


Stay By My Side (And Never Leave Me)

by xingnini



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Arranged Marriage, Fluff, M/M, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2018-12-16 19:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11835402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xingnini/pseuds/xingnini
Summary: Crown Prince Yixing would rather lie to the public about his sperm count than have an arranged marriage set up for him.





	Stay By My Side (And Never Leave Me)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt from Xingdaes 2016 Fic Fest (my first fic fest ever) and I honestly couldn’t stop thinking of this prompt ever since. To be honest, I think I spun this prompt out of control, but I had a lot of fun writing it. Thank you to my crazy cocoa for motivating me and squealing over my fic even though I was unsure of what I was writing. Lastly, thank you to the Golden EXO mods for hosting this fest!

The ballroom of the palace was full of life and celebration this particular evening. Although it was already dark outside, the chandeliers that rose above the heads of all the guests were brightly lit and shone extravagantly. An excited buzz resonated throughout the huge hall as everyone made small talk with each other to pass time before the main celebrant arrived. All were dressed their best, in elegant gowns and expensive tuxedos to impress and uphold their image.

 

The Emperor and his wife were seated at a balcony room, overlooking every single guest in the room, as they waited for their son to make his appearance.

 

Tonight, royalty and nobility have been called to gather and celebrate the 21st birthday of the Crown Prince.

 

Huge parties like these start out with the entrance and announcement of each of the invited distinguished guests. As more and more arrive, they politely engage in conversations with each other while helping themselves to light refreshments. Once everyone has arrived, the main celebrant enters the hall and everyone applauds. Then he makes a welcoming announcement, and the party carries on with a huge feast and dancing into the night.

 

“Do you think he has chosen a wife yet?”

 

“Possibly. There's no way that none of the maidens who stayed at the palace didn't appeal to him. They're all very beautiful — look, some of them are here tonight.”

 

This was the kind of gossip that was murmured over the waiters offering appetizers to the guests and the soft music being played in the background. The Crown Prince had been so quiet about his choice in his future wife lately, that most of the people gathered at the feast tonight were only present to get information about his marriage affairs.

 

Hidden away from the eyes of the party, Zhang Yixing watched as the clock’s hands indicated it had been an hour since the first guests arrived. It was time for him to make an appearance, but he had something to say that would most likely shock everyone. He hated making public speeches — he always became very anxious before making them — but this was something he contemplated over really carefully for a very long time.

 

He felt his anxiety start to come over him before reminding himself that he _had to do this_ and that _this is the one time he's allowed not to care what other people think of him_ , otherwise the marriage arrangements would never stop. Regaining his courage, he straightened up a bit more and nodded to the workers at the door who had been waiting for his cue this whole time. They opened the white and gold-decorated double doors and Yixing could hear his arrival being announced.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the main celebrant of tonight’s festivities has arrived. Please welcome the Crown Prince!”

 

As the crowd applauded and greeted him, Yixing stepped out of the room and walked out onto the interior balcony which led to the grand staircase he was supposed to walk down and onto the ballroom floor. Overlooking everyone, he waved a hand as both a greeting and a sign to get them to cease their clapping.

 

“Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for coming out to celebrate my birthday,” Yixing greeted with a dimpled smile on his face. Now, I know some of you have travelled a long way,” he said, his tone starting to sound more serious. “However, I did not prepare a welcoming speech, because I don't intend to stay here for long. Instead, I have an important announcement to make.

 

“I, Crown Prince Zhang Yixing, will not be choosing a wife.”

 

As soon as those words were processed, the ballroom erupted with loud protests from the angry families of the marriage candidates.

 

“P-please hear me out,” Yixing stuttered out, trying to regain control of the guests’ attention again. “There is nothing wrong with the charming and beautiful women who were gracious enough to even consider me as their future husband. I realized I should no longer take advantage of their generosity and innocence, because instead, there is something wrong with _me_ , or rather my body.

 

“I have recently paid a visit to the royal medical practitioner and he told me something that would bring great dishonor to my bloodline — I will most likely not be able to produce an heir. If you really must know the reason why, it’s because I have a low sperm count. I wanted to spare my family and ‘supposed’ wife from the humiliation and disgrace, thus my decision not to marry.

 

“I’m sorry for spoiling the mood of this celebration; it was supposed to be a festive day, but this unexpected news must have ruined it. Thank you all so much for your undivided attention. I will be taking my leave now.”

 

Despite the outburst from the guests earlier on during the speech, the entire place was filled with dead silence. No one dared to stop the Crown Prince as he quickly exited the ballroom.

  
  


“We spent so much for this feast! What was the meaning of that announcement? You left before the celebration even started!”

 

“Please pardon my lack of manners once again, but I said I’m not going to do it anymore,” Yixing repeated firmly for the third time that day. “Since you aren’t listening to my words, I had no choice but to do that.”

 

“Child, you’ve turned twenty-one today! It’s been a year since we’ve been setting you up with potential marriage candidates, and you’ve turned down all twelve maidens we’ve arranged for you,” his mother cried out. “Although there are many women who are lining up to become your wife, you’re not getting any younger! The time for you to take your place as Emperor is drawing nearer and nearer, but you don’t have a partner yet!”

 

Yixing’s father, the Emperor, only sat back on his throne, listening to his wife and son bicker back and forth. They were all in the royal throne room with the Emperor’s advisors and members of the court close at hand, watching the whole scene unfold before them. Of course the Crown Prince’s affairs should be known to them no matter how awkward the topic was, even if it was about his sperm count — he was going to be their future ruler, after all.

 

Yixing ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Did you not listen to what I said to everyone before? Getting married doesn't matter anymore because I can't produce an heir.”

 

“You were telling the truth back there?” his mother asked, looking a little stunned while for some reason, the Emperor’s interest seemed to pique more.

 

“Yes,” Yixing lied again and skillfully bluffed, “you can even ask the medical practitioner. He'll tell you that my sperm count is lower than a normal male’s. Because of that, I’m putting my foot down on this matter; I won't be marrying any of the women you set me up with, or any other women you wanted to arrange me with.”

 

Immediately, the throne room was filled with hushed whispers as the members of the court discussed the shocking news and the prince’s decision amongst themselves. Yixing tried not to mind them and continued to keep his hard gaze fixed on his parents. Eventually, his mother spoke first, breaking through the court’s mumbling.

 

“Xingtuo,” she started cautiously, “is this your way of coming out to us?”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Yixing’s eyes widened about twelve times their normal size as he realized what his mother asked. Even the members of the court showed how startled and confused they were as they immediately turned their heads to the Queen.

 

“Seems like it,” the Emperor said, finally breaking his silence. “We were running out of suitable female candidates that we liked anyway, so I’m glad you brought this to our attention and told us what you really prefer.”

 

“Ma! Ba!” Yixing shouted out, absolutely scandalized once he realized what they were implying. “That’s not it! How did you even reach that conclusion?”

 

“So in that case,” his father stood up from his throne, completely ignoring his son’s protests, “let us broaden the list of potential marriage candidates! The search for suitable males will begin tomorrow, at once!”

  
  


About a week later, Yixing’s mother bounced up to him and told him that she had already found the perfect suitor. She was so excited, saying how the man voluntarily agreed to stay in the palace to hopefully woo Yixing.

 

She had caught her son one afternoon in the dining hall, sitting alone at the end of the long table. She stealthily approached him so that he’d be unprepared to escape from her and her constant talks of marriage.

 

_“His name is Kim Jongdae. He’s from a noble Korean family, but he knows how to speak Chinese. I’ve already met him and he’s such a nice boy! He can't come right away because he and his family have to settle some things first, but he'll be here in two months!”_

 

_Yixing continued to sip his tea and read the book in his hand, ignoring everything his mother had to say about his potential suitor. However, he did manage to hear that his mother adored Jongdae so much, that she was willing to wait the two months for him instead of filling the gap with two other suitors._

 

_“Xingtuo, how about we let him stay for two months instead, hm? After the stunt you pulled at your birthday, no one wants to marry you, so it’s not like there’s a line of maidens waiting for you. We don’t have to limit the time to one month anymore.”_

 

_“Ma!” Yixing burst out in annoyance at his mother’s lack of tact._

 

_His mother pouted. “Haven’t you learned anything from your lessons all these years? On filial piety and the duty of a son, Confucius said, ‘In serving his parents, a filial son reveres them in daily life; he makes them happy while he nourishes them; he takes—”_

 

_“Alright, mother, if it’ll make you happy,” Yixing gave in, “he can stay for an extra month.”_

 

So, for the past two months, Yixing had been thinking of ways to let this Jongdae guy down easily. Yixing was a nice person — the Emperor was known as a benevolent ruler, so like father like son, right?

 

 _‘If he’s willing to stay here for a month longer, then he must actually be into me…’_ Yixing thought to himself. _‘How can I tell him that I have no intention of marriage whatsoever?’_

 

The thing was, Yixing was _too_ nice; he had so much trouble trying to figure out what to say to Jongdae. Every day for two months, Yixing had to pump himself up and think of ways to reject this stranger. Usually, he couldn't speak to large crowds, but this was _one_ person.

 

The morning of Jongdae’s arrival, Yixing thinks he's got it all down. He had practiced it over in his head millions of times.

 

The suitor’s entrance into the palace was going to be announced any moment, so Yixing took his place in his personal library. He was sitting at a small table near the window, sipping his tea with his legs crossed. He tried to seem like he was calm and interested in the book he was reading, but his mind was running all over the place, trying to remember everything he had rehearsed for the past two months. His mind was getting more and more scrambled the more anxious he got.

 

“Kim Jongdae, second son of the noble Kim family from Gyeonggi Province, has arrived!” Yixing could hear the royal herald even though they were on completely different floors of the palace.   

 

Yixing tried to calculate how much time it would take for the suitor to greet the Emperor and Queen and then how long it would take for him to be redirected to this library. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door, interrupting Yixing’s thoughts.

 

“What is it?” the Crown Prince asked, being able to pull off sounding confident and assertive, but he could feel the nervousness in his gut.

 

“Your Highness,” a palace worker called out through the other side of the door, “marriage candidate Kim Jongdae has arrived and is here to greet you.”

 

“Alright, let him in.”

 

The door opened as the worker pushed the door open and gestured a young man inside. He had dark locks of wavy hair and a good-looking face; he had high cheekbones and his mouth reminded him of a smiling kitten. As the palace worker closed the door of the library to leave the two alone, Yixing thought about how bad he’d feel having to reject such a nice-looking guy.

 

“Hi, Jongdae, pleasure to meet you,” Yixing greeted with an amiable smile, standing up with his hand outstretched. “I’m—”

 

“I’m not going through with this,” Jongdae lashed out coldly. “I have no intention of marrying you.”

 

Yixing immediately stopped in his tracks. It was like a glass of realization shattered.

 

His stomach dropped along with the butterflies in it, because everything Yixing had worked on for months was stolen right off his plate by Jongdae _the second_ they’ve met. Slowly and awkwardly, he retracted his hand, because from the way Jongdae was glaring at him, it didn't seem like he'd want to shake hands.

 

“Umm, alright? May I ask what happened to change your mind?”

 

“Nothing happened. Just because you're used to female candidates sucking up to you for marriage, it doesn't mean you should expect the same from me. I never had to change my mind because I never wanted to marry you in the first place.”

 

“But I was told you did this voluntarily. You're even staying here for a month longer than all the others,” Yixing insisted dumbfoundedly, trying to salvage any pride he had left.

 

“Well, there's been a misunderstanding. You were told _wrong_.”

 

Yixing was too stunned to say anything, so Jongdae continued, “I will leave at the end of the two months. You were probably expecting a nice greeting from me, but this is what I had to say. I'll be taking my leave now.”

 

Without any word of apology, Jongdae bowed and left the library, leaving Yixing to realize that, for the first time ever, he's intimidated by one of his marriage candidates.

  
  


_“Who is she?”_

 

_“She’s a performer in your father’s court, Your Highness.”_

 

_“Do you know her name?”_

 

_“No, your Highness.”_

 

_“Please tell her to see me in the Starlight Garden when the clock strikes 9.”_

 

_The guard nodded, and all the prince could do was patiently wait until the clock’s chiming bounced on the walls and echoed throughout the—_

 

“—Your alarm clock has been ringing, why aren’t you getting up?!””

 

Yixing shot up in pain as a hand hit his bare back. Through squinted morning eyes, the Crown Prince saw his mother at the side of his bed, impatiently waiting for him to wake up. Her two guards stood just outside the door, watching the whole scene unfold.

 

“Ma!” Yixing shouted, processing that she was the one that smacked him. “It’s too early for this!” he exclaimed, shoving a pillow on top of his head and throwing himself back down on his bed.

 

“Xingtuo, it’s time for breakfast! Jongdae is waiting to eat with you!”

 

“He is?” the Crown Prince asked, taking a peek from underneath his pillow.

 

“Yes, so hurry up and make yourself decent,” his mother ordered sternly before walking out of the bedroom.

 

Yixing wondered why the nobleman would wait to eat breakfast together; he didn't even want to see him after how that first meeting went wrong, but he didn't want his mother to nag him either. Picking the lesser of two evils, he groaned as he shuffled out of bed and put on his clothes. He went to the bathroom to fix his hair and brush his teeth to make himself look slightly presentable.

 

When he finally arrived at the dining hall, he saw that Jongdae truly was waiting for him, along with the Queen and the workers waiting on them.

 

“Good morning,” Yixing greeted, bowing his head slightly to everyone in the room. He took his usual seat at the table, which was directly across from where Jongdae and his mother were seated. In a few seconds, a palace maid placed his breakfast in front of him.

 

“Did you sleep well last night?” Yixing asked, trying to make small talk. Maybe this time, it would be a little better than when they last spoke because his mother is here, too.

 

“Yes, I did,” Jongdae replied curtly, focusing on cutting up some french toast. “Thank you.”

 

Yixing’s mother glared at the prince to continue making conversation and he sent back a look that said, ‘Okay, okay, I will, geez.’

 

“How are you adjusting to living in the palace? Everything is okay, right?”

 

“Yeah, I’m getting used to it,” Jongdae answered sharply once again.

 

“Xingtuo, you’ve been spending time with Jongdae, right?” his mother said, stepping in to intervene. “You should be getting to know each other!” she exclaimed enthusiastically.

 

“Oh, Yixing told me _all_ about himself for the past few days, Your Highness,” Jongdae said, subtly throwing a small smirk towards Yixing — so subtle that his mother missed it, and he would have, too, if he blinked at the wrong second.

 

“Ah, so you _have_ been spending time together! I’m delighted to hear that,” the Queen gushed excitedly. “Do tell more!”

 

“He told me so many things,” Jongdae raved on. “Like how his favorite color is purple and how he can’t eat spicy food. He also told me that he likes reading books while listening to classical music and cannot stand being drenched in the rain.”

 

The more Jongdae spoke, the happier Yixing’s mother looked. “Oh, splendid! I’m glad you’re taking note of his likes and dislikes! You know so much about him already! Xingtuo, what about you?”

 

Yixing’s eyes widened when he realized his mother suddenly turned her attention to him. “Um, wh-what do you mean?”

 

“What have you learned about Jongdae from the time you spent together?”

 

“I… uhh… he…” Yixing stuttered, struggling to find some words to form a lie.

 

“Your Highness, it’s alright,” Jongdae stepped in. “I didn’t tell him much about myself.”

 

“Aww, Jongdae, you don’t have to be so noble and cover up for Yixing,” the queen said to him sweetly. Then she turned to her son and seethed, “You’re telling me you just kept talking about yourself and didn’t even let poor Jongdae speak?!”

 

“Mother, it wasn’t like that,” Yixing tried to defend himself.

 

“Nonsense!! I’m going to go to the next room to refill my plate, and when I come back, you better know at least one fact about Jongdae,” she threatened, causing the prince to gulp. She glared at her son one last time before getting up and retreating out the door.

 

Yixing immediately turned to the noble who was eating his food as if he had done nothing wrong. “I thought you had no interest in me!” the prince hissed lowly, afraid that his mother might overhear from the next room.

 

“I don’t,” Jongdae shrugged calmly.

 

“You said all of that on purpose to make me look bad!”

 

“I did,” Jongdae straight up answered.

 

The prince scowled. “How did you even know all of that?”

 

“I have my sources.”

 

“Did you have a background check done on me?” Yixing gasped, scandalized.

 

“Not necessarily. I didn’t even have to.”

 

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” the Crown Prince demanded to know, getting a little impatient at this point.

 

However, Jongdae just remained unfazed and gently dabbed his mouth with a napkin. “I’m finished with eating my breakfast, so please excuse me.” He pushed his chair back and stood up, leaving Yixing to be baffled for the second time in a row.  

 

“It’s too early in the morning for this,” Yixing groaned, banging his head on the table.

  
  


Jongdae stealthily snuck past the dark hallway leading away from his room and made it towards the main hall. It was really late in the evening, so everyone in the palace was asleep, except for some of the workers. It’s been a week since he’d settled into this new life — it took him a few days, but he finally got the hang of which way to go and how to get where.

 

He finally made it to the kitchen without getting caught.

 

All the workers were bustling about, already getting ingredients ready for tomorrow’s meals. Jongdae saw some chefs sitting at a small round table in the corner, discussing what items should be on the menu for the royal family.

 

No one really seemed to notice that he was there.

 

He looked around and went straight to the walk-in refrigerator when he saw it. Once inside, his mouth widened when he saw how huge the space was — it was bigger than his living room back at home! There were huge shelves of food that towered over him and created several aisles. It would take him a while to find what he was looking for!!

 

He walked up and down the aisles to scour for food placed on the shelves at least from eye-level and down. For the rest of the food, he’d have to climb up the ladder and that would really take forever to find the ingredient he needed.

 

Pouting, he walked back out of the fridge and looked around. All the active chefs were standing around a stove of their own, supervising their food; the chefs sitting around the table were still dynamically discussing the menu, fighting over what kind of novel dish should make its debut to the royal family.

 

“I’ve been saying this since last month, but let’s take out hot pot of shredded lamb stomach and shredded mutton and replace it with the hot pot of game with bird’s nest and roast duck! The winter season is over, we should be putting more light food instead of fatty foods!”

 

“Plus, Her Majesty has brought it to my attention that she wants to go on a diet!” another chef piped in.

 

“But this is the Emperor’s favorite dish!”

 

“His Highness should be willing to sacrifice a couple of months without it for the health of his wife!”  

 

“Ahem,” Jongdae coughed out and cleared his throat. All the chefs immediately turned around and looked up at the young man who interrupted them. “Gentlemen, I would suggest adding wild herb salad and maybe braised chicken with cowpea. They’re light dishes that I think the Queen would appreciate.”

 

“Who are _you_?” one of the chefs asked.

 

“You’re not a worker here, I’ve never seen you before,” another added. “Only employees of the kitchen or members of the royal family are allowed in here.”

 

“The Queen personally sent me here as a special intern,” Jongdae replied, bowing his head. “My apologies for arriving so late in the evening.”

 

“Special intern? She’s informed us of no such thing.”

 

Well, I overheard you guys earlier discussing the menu,” Jongdae said. “You should take my suggestions into consideration.”

 

The chefs all exchanged glances with each other, unsure of what to say.

 

“Well, herb salad is a good choice instead of a heavy soup…” one spoke up.

 

“Yes, the Emperor is picky with soups, but not with salad…” another contemplated aloud.

 

“If we’re all in agreement, then we’ll add that to this month’s menu,” one announced, standing up and turning to Jongdae. “Thank you for a great suggestion. Welcome to the kitchen team! Which culinary school have you graduated from?”

 

“I haven’t gone. I just read up on food sometimes,” Jongdae answered with a laugh.

 

“Amazing, but your tastes seem refined! And what’s your name?”

 

“Kim Jongdae,” he replied, bowing slightly.

 

“Kim Jongdae? The—”

 

“Crown Prince’s marriage candidate? Yes,” Jongdae finished, smiling cheekily.

 

“Sir, what are you doing here in the kitchen?” the chef asked, bowing along with the rest of them. “Would you like us to fix you up a late snack?”

 

“No, no, thank you!”

 

“I like him,” a chef blurted out. “He’s nice and he’s a trickster. All of the marriage candidates from before were uptight and didn’t like to joke around at all.”

 

The rest of them nodded and muttered in agreement, some of them walking up to him and patting him on the back as a warm welcome. Jongdae couldn’t help but smile, because this was one of the warmest greetings he’s gotten since he’s stepped foot into the palace.

 

“Say,” Jongdae started to ask with a tilt of his head, “do you happen to have some extra carrots?”

  
  


Jongdae walked down one of the main halls of the palace with slices of carrots in his hand. He looked around to see if there was anyone who would see what he was about to do, and when the coast was clear, he set to work.

 

He reached the end of the hall, crouched down a little and started shuffling backwards, dropping pieces of carrots near the wall every few steps he took. When he ran out of carrots to drop and made a sufficient enough trail, he ran back to the beginning of the carrot trail, set up a box at an angle with a string attached to it, then went to the opposite end of the hall to hide. He stooped down and lied on the ground on his stomach, string next to him, then waited.

 

He never took his eyes off of the carrot trap; he even tried to minimize his blinking because the moment he’d been waiting for could happen at any point in time.

 

Maybe if he waited here long enough, he would finally find— 

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Jongdae immediately averted his eyes from the carrot trap and saw the Crown Prince looking down at him with a perplexed expression. When he saw who it was, he turned his attention back to the carrots.

 

The hall was big enough to fit maybe two carriages, so the fact that Yixing could have just walked by and minded his own business, but _didn’t_ , annoyed Jongdae.

 

“Why are you lying down on the ground?” Yixing asked again.

 

“Why not?” Jongdae bit back.

 

“It’s dirty, get up,” Yixing said, reaching down to get a hold of Jongdae’s arm and pull him up, but the younger just shook him off.

 

“I’m _busy_ , and I trust that the palace workers clean very meticulously,” Jongdae snapped.

 

“Busy doing what? Looking out for mice?”

 

“It's really none of your business,” the younger replied tautly.

 

Yixing gave out a huff of frustration. Even though Jongdae wasn't looking at him, focusing his attention elsewhere, Yixing burst out, "Most of the time, I’m just trying to make conversation with you, but you don't reciprocate; why do you dislike me so much? Ever since the very first moment — the minute — we've met, you already started to attack me. Did I personally offend you in any way?"

 

Jongdae turned back to look at the Crown Prince with a baffled, but agitated expression.

 

“I just don’t like you, do I need a reason?”

 

Yixing pursed his lips in determination and said, “Yes! To be honest, I didn’t want to get married either, but I wasn’t gonna tell you that right away, of course. You stole it right out of my mouth before you could even introduce yourself.”

 

“Oh, so say I _did_ want to get married. Were you going to lead me on for two months?”

 

“What? N-no,” Yixing stuttered.

 

Jongdae gave him a look of judgment before turning his head, _once again_ , back to the carrots. He was expecting Yixing to kind of just give up and walk away, but the prince just continued to stand there, trying to find words to say to the younger.

 

“Look,” Yixing started to say. “I’m sorry tha—”

 

“Shh!” Jongdae shushed him, eyes trained on looking forward. Then, all of a sudden, he reached for the prince’s hand and dragged him down onto the floor next to him.

 

“What th—”

 

“Shh!!” Jongdae shut him up again. “Be quiet and stay still,” he whispered.

 

Now lying on the ground, Yixing carefully tried to follow Jongdae’s line of sight all the way down the hallway. He saw a fluffy brown blob on the ground that almost made him yell out again, but Jongdae managed to smack his hand over the prince’s mouth.

 

“What part of ‘be quiet’ did you not understand?” Jongdae hissed. “If you scare him away, I’ll steal your palace’s whole supply of carrots.”

 

“What is that _thing?_ ” Yixing asked.

 

Jongdae ignored him and waited until it came closer and closer. It approached the carrots and started nibbling on each of them. Jongdae held onto the string connected to the box, waiting for the opportune moment to pull on it.

 

_PLOP!_

 

“I got you, Pip!” Jongdae shouted out victoriously. He stood up and quickly went over to the collapsed box. He reached underneath and his hands came out holding the brown fluffball.

 

 _“Pip?”_ Yixing asked in surprise, standing up and brushing dust off his clothes. “You brought a _bunny_ with you into the palace?”

 

“No, my parents never let me have a pet,” Jongdae answered, with the bunny held close to his chest. While looking down at it and cooing at it, he said, “I found him in your garden a few days ago. Since I don’t have a cage for him yet, he managed to escape from my room.”

 

“So,” Yixing started, “you felt trapped in this palace and you caught a rabbit so that you could make it feel trapped here with you, too?”

 

Jongdae glared at Yixing, which was an immediate 180 degree turn from the heart-eyed expression he was just shooting at Pip. “It’s not like that. I was beginning to feel lonely, so it’s more like I was looking for a companion, not a jail cell mate.”

 

Yixing frowned at the frost in Jongdae’s words and he couldn’t help but feel as if he messed up again. “I—”

 

“Save it,” Jongdae cut in, then turned to pick up the remaining carrots on the ground and the box trap. “I thought if I let you know at least that, you’d be understanding, but you really have a way with words. It makes me not want to tell you anything or speak to you at all.”

 

He was about to turn and walk away when the prince stopped him.

 

“Wait, Jongdae, please,” Yixing pleaded. “Last time at breakfast, you left without letting me know one fact about you. My mother was upset with me when she came back and you were already gone. Please tell me at least one thing about you, and I promise I’ll leave you alone.”

 

“One fact about me?” Jongdae asked. “Like a fun fact?”

 

Yixing nodded.

 

“Alright, fun fact: I want to leave this place as soon as possible.”

 

As the piercing words doused Yixing like cold water, Jongdae turned on his heels and walked down the hall angrily.

  
  


_“Mother, he really dislikes me!”_

 

_“Nonsense, he’s the one who voluntarily accepted staying here for an extra month!”_

 

_“I’m telling you the truth! He wants to leave the palace as soon as possible!”_

 

 _“How dare you turn this on Kim Jongdae! He’s such a sweet boy, and he even made the effort to get to know you better, yet you don’t even know one thing about him! I can’t believe you’re making Jongdae out to be the villain here when_ you _are the one who doesn’t want to get married.”_

 

Even though that conversation just happened a few hours ago, Yixing was _still_ baffled. How did Jongdae manage to get _his own mother, the Queen,_ wrapped around his finger? It’s only been two weeks since he set foot in the palace! And all he’s shown was a nasty attitude, so how could others get along with him so well?

 

_“What happened to the no animals allowed in the palace rule? He picked up a rabbit from our garden and is marching around with it,” the prince continued to argue._

 

_“We can make an exception for him. And it’s not like there was anyone who wanted a pet in the castle before…”_

 

“I _wanted a pet bunny,” Yixing deadpanned._

 

_“Oh, really?” the Queen pretended. “I never knew.”_

 

Thinking about the conversation once again made him feel even more frustrated. His mom often liked to tease him, but she was so serious about taking Jongdae’s side all the time.

 

Not only her, but the workers as well; every corner of the palace where Yixing stepped, he would hear them talking about and praising _Jongdae, Jongdae, Jongdae._ Did the guy not stay in one spot? Seriously, only two weeks and he’s been to every part of the palace already?

 

How did he get along so well with everyone?

 

Everyone, but _him?_

 

Thinking about it like _that_ made him feel more miserable. Yixing thought he was a nice person — he aspires to be nice, because he can’t stand it when people dislike him. It attacks his self-confidence and anxiety, so he makes it a priority to be kind and generous to anyone he meets.

 

But why is this Kim Jongdae getting on his nerves with his irrational and unprecedented hatred towards him? Sure, maybe Yixing has said some things that came off wrong, but he was pretty awkward. Growing up as Crown Prince, he didn’t know how to socially interact with peers. He had streaks of anxiety whenever he had to speak his mind to people he barely knew.

 

When Yixing heard that his mom really found a male suitor for him, his plan was to break the news to the guy and say that he didn’t want to get married. He thought that after that, the man wouldn’t take it too personally and that they could still be friends.

 

With Jongdae, the whole thing had gone wrong — and Yixing wanted to make everything right again.

  
  


Whenever Jongdae wasn't mingling with the palace workers during their breaks, he was reading. He could be found in the library, the gardens, or in his room with a book in his hand.

 

It was one particular afternoon when Jongdae was sitting pretzel-legged on a sofa, reading a book in the library that was open to everyone in the palace. Beside him, on the table, was Pip in his little rabbit cage. Jongdae liked to bring Pip with him wherever he went — except to dinner because he had a pretty bad odor.

 

Jongdae liked the library because it was bright, spacious, and quiet. It was better than staying in his room because if he finished a book, he could just grab another one right off the shelf instead of walking throughout the palace and walking all the way back. Since the workers were always busy, the library was practically empty most of the time.

 

That’s why Jongdae didn’t expect someone to come in and abduct his rabbit.

 

It happened really quickly — so quickly that Jongdae almost didn’t process what happened. The bunny-napper burst through the library door and grabbed the cage with Pip in it and sprinted right out the door.

 

Wh—Hey!” Jongdae exclaimed, throwing the book on the couch and chasing after the intruder. “What are you doing?! Stop right there!!”

 

Except, the bunny-napper didn’t stop and ran even faster.

 

He turned around a sharp corner, leading to an even longer corridor. Jongdae didn’t even know where he was in the palace anymore and he didn’t care, as long as he was staying hot on the guy’s tracks.

 

Jongdae hadn't seen the guy’s face, so he didn't know who he was and what he’d want with a rabbit. Jongdae couldn’t think of a reason why anyone in the palace would steal Pip from him. The only thing he could come up with was… _rabbit stew._

 

“He’s too stinky for rabbit stew!!” Jongdae suddenly yelled out. “HEY! Aren’t you going to stop?!”

 

The bunny-napper continued to sprint through the halls with Jongdae right at his tail. No matter how fast he ran, Jongdae couldn’t catch the man and save his beloved bunny.  

 

Just when Jongdae could finally feel his breath get stuck in his lungs and his legs giving out, the bunny-napper turned once more into a familiar door. Jongdae realized that he turned into the dining hall, and he felt a burst of energy when he figured that maybe he could trap the thief.

 

He, too, turned into the dark dining hall and had to stop in order to make out anything without light. He couldn’t see where the bunny-napper had gone, but he did manage to see Pip placed on top of the table.

 

“Pip!”

 

He rushed over to his bunny and checked to see if it was hurt anywhere. It seemed unharmed for the most part, maybe a little traumatized from being swung around during the wild goose chase.

 

All of a sudden, a spotlight turned on right on top of them and Jongdae felt himself being swept off the floor and into a chair. Someone from behind pushed him in, so that he’d be seated at the table. When Jongdae yelped out in surprise and quickly turned to see what was going on, he saw someone moving among the shadows.

 

Jongdae was about to get up from his seat when the Blue Danube Waltz started playing.

 

Colored lights pointed to one side of the hall, particularly at the door where the cooks and servers came out of the kitchen. Suddenly, that door flew open and waiters and waitresses glided out with cake plates and dessert servers balanced on their hands.

 

Jongdae could only watch as they flitted across the dining hall gracefully and in step with the waltz. Spotlights were following each of the dancing waiters, multiple illuminated people moving against the dark background. The whole display seemed like a coordinated choreography and Jongdae watched in awe as some of them set down the food on the table in front of him and continued to dance.

 

One of the spotlights shone towards the side door again, and it grabbed Jongdae’s attention. He waited in anticipation to see who would go through the door, because it was probably the person who set this whole thing up.

 

Jongdae watched as the door slowly opened to reveal… the Crown Prince.

 

Yixing.

 

Jongdae’s mood immediately turned somewhat sour, because he didn’t know or want to know what he was up to now.

 

The music faded out and Yixing stood directly across Jongdae on the opposite long end of the table, which was now piled with all sorts of desserts. Some of the waiters were still standing on the side with cake, ready to serve Jongdae if none on the table were to his liking.

 

Yixing gave him a small smile and an awkward little wave.

 

“You stole my bunny so that you could lure me in here?” Jongdae deadpanned.

 

The Crown Prince’s eyes widened with the revelation that the younger didn’t like this at all. “I—Uh… That wasn’t me, but I—”

 

“Pip could have been hurt, or worse, traumatized from being thrown around the cage!!”

 

Yixing’s face fell considerably and it almost made Jongdae feel bad, because he could finally see that the prince was _trying_ , but Jongdae was just not giving him the time of day.

 

“Jongdae, I’m sooo sorry,” Yixing immediately apologized, starting to make his way over to the younger and his bunny. “Is Pip alri—WOOOAH!”

 

Jongdae watched with widened eyes as he saw Yixing skidding straight into one of the waiters holding a cake.

 

_SPLAT!_

 

A resounding gasp and the clattering of the metal plate having fallen on the ground traveled throughout the room as everyone witnessed what had just happened. All the lights suddenly turned on, clearly showing a cake mark on the floor and the Crown Prince with icing smothered all over his face.

 

“Your Majesty!!” the waiter, who he had crashed into, gasped out.

 

At first, everyone, including Jongdae, could only stare wordlessly. Then, loud laughter started to echo throughout the whole hall.

 

Jongdae was laughing.

 

He was laughing at Yixing.

 

The Crown Prince not only made him smile for the first time, but Jongdae was laughing his guts out because of him. Yixing watched as the marriage candidate managed to pick himself off the chair and make his way to him.

 

“What were you even trying to pull off?” Jongdae asked, when his laughs were reduced to chuckles.

 

“It was supposed to be a “Be Your Guest” from _Beauty and the Beast_ kind of thing,” Yixing admitted sheepishly while wiping some of the cake off his face with his bare hands.

 

“Why in the world—” Jongdae asked, shaking his head and letting out one more small laugh.

 

“Honestly? I did it in an attempt make you smile,” he answered.

 

At that, Jongdae’s smile fell a little as he registered the look in Yixing’s eyes, that he was being sincere about what he had just said.

 

“Look, Jongdae,” Yixing began. “I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I really want to make things right. Even better yet, we can start over. It makes me feel bad when you make it seem like you’re miserable and trapped in this palace against your will for the next month or so. I know you don’t want to marry me — and I don’t want to get married either — but that doesn’t mean we have to dislike each other. We can still be friends.”

 

Jongdae stared at Yixing, trying to soak in everything that he said. He blinked once, then twice, and said, “I can’t really take you seriously with all that cake on your face.”

 

A small smile graced Yixing’s face as he watched Jongdae continue to laugh.

 

“So what do you say?” the prince asked with hopeful eyes.

 

Jongdae gave him one more look, then said, “Well, my name’s Kim Jongdae.”

 

Yixing gave Jongdae a confused look as if to say, _I knew your name already..._

 

“You said we could start over right?” Jongdae asked before continuing, “My name’s Kim Jongdae. I’m the second son of the noble Kim family from Gyeonggi Province. Fun fact: I like the color pink.”

  
  


It was the next day at breakfast when Yixing was taken aback from Jongdae's change in attitude towards him — it was too early to remember what had happened the day before. Then he recalled that he and Jongdae agreed to be friends rather than be at each other's throats every time they saw each other. Yixing returned the smile that the marriage candidate flashed at him and sat in his chair.

 

Of course, the Queen noticed and grinned, but she didn't say anything throughout breakfast.

 

Usually, Yixing had lessons to attend or responsibilities to take care of after breakfast, but his mother insisted that he take the day off. He was in his room changing into his day clothes, when she came into his room and told him that his classes were cancelled.

 

"But Ma, I'm a little behind on some thi—"

 

"Nonsense, Xingtuo!! You need to take a break!" his mother sing-songed. "Try to relax. Read a book. Watch a movie. Hang out with Jongdae!" she managed to blurt out before disappearing out of his room.

 

Yixing groaned as he slipped on his pants and grabbed the latest book he was reading that was on his desk. Since he had nothing to do, he might as well just chill in the library until he finished the book.

 

He made his way down the hallway when he saw Jongdae carrying Pip's cage and a book of his own and walking towards him.

 

"Hey, where are you going?" Yixing asked when they were near enough to each other.

 

"I'm going to the open library. I usually hang out there after breakfast," Jongdae answered with a friendly smile.

 

"You're gonna read there? Why don't you come to my library and we can read together," the Crown Prince suggested. "It's quieter there, since there are no palace workers walking in and out of it and it'll be nice to nice to read in someone else's company."

 

Jongdae thought a little bit, then said, "I'm fine with going—"

 

"—Great! Then let's—"

 

"—but Pip isn't."

 

"Wait, what?"

 

"Pip doesn't want to go with you," Jongdae pouted. "You sent a bunny-napper to steal him away from me and during the chase, he was thrashed around in his cage. He didn't appreciate that."

 

Yixing looked down at the bunny, who was minding it's own business and hurriedly chewing on a carrot, and laughed. Jongdae watched as Yixing bent down on one knee to get down to the cage's level.

 

"Hey, Pip. I'm Yixing! I'm sorry I sent a bunny-napper after you, but I needed you to lure your owner to the dining hall and I couldn't think of any other way... I hope you can forgive me," the prince apologized.

 

The bunny only continued to stare at the same spot and chew on his carrot.

 

"Even if you don't forgive me, just know that I'm glad my plan worked, because now your owner and I are friends. I couldn't have done it without you!" he said and then stood up and looked Jongdae in the eye.

 

The younger couldn't help but feel a little more self-conscious with how the prince was looking straight at him, after saying all that.

 

"I meant what I said to Pip. I'm really glad you gave me another chance instead of choosing to push me farther away," Yixing told him sincerely.

 

"It's... not a big deal," Jongdae sheepishly told him. "I just appreciated that you made an effort to apologize to me. So, thank you, too." Yixing was still staring at Jongdae with a soft smile on his face, so Jongdae felt a little awkward. "I'm actually a nice person when I want to be!" he piped up indignantly. "You just happened to get on my wrong side."

 

"I'm sorry, I still don't know what I did," Yixing laughed, while scratching his head. They arrived at the library and Yixing closed the door behind them. They took their seats on different couches, Yixing near the window and Jongdae near one of the bookshelves. The marriage candidate set Pip's cage on the table beside him.

 

"You didn't do anything _directly_ to me," Jongdae grumbled, but loud enough for the prince to hear. "I kind of already had a bad impression of you before we met and I took out my anger on you. It was just a huge misunderstanding..." Before Yixing could speak up, Jongdae quickly defended himself, "Some of the things you said to me after that first meeting made you seem like an asshole though, so I thought the impression I had of you was right."

 

"... Can I ask what first impression you had of me? What have you heard about me that made you think so badly of me? I'm really curious," Yixing asked him. "Wait, I even remember at breakfast, that one time, you knew a bunch of information about me that I never told you myself."

 

Jongdae chuckled nervously and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I'll let you find out one day, but today is not that day. I just want to relax and read today!" he said happily, crossing his legs so he could sit pretzel-legged. It was his most comfortable reading position, and Yixing kind of thought it was cute. He looked like an eagerly excited kid.

 

"Hmm, okay, but you _have_ to tell me another day," Yixing insisted. "I won't let you forget."

 

“Mhmm,” Jongdae hummed, already focusing on the book he opened.

 

Yixing opened his own book and found the page he was on, but he leaned over the arm of his chair and took a peek over at Jongdae. He kind of wanted to continue talking to him and keep a conversation going. “Hey, what book are you reading?”

 

“It’s called _At Least We Can Apologize_ by Lee Kiho. It’s in Korean,” Jongdae told him without looking up from his book. “What about you?”

 

Yixing beamed when he saw that Jongdae was willing to carry out the conversation. _“The Dream of the Red Chamber_ by Cao Xueqin! It’s pretty good so far. My literature teacher didn’t make it an assignment, but she suggested that I read it.”

 

“Then stop talking and read it.”

 

Yixing pouted and leaned back into his chair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small smile make its way onto Jongdae’s face, and he couldn’t help but smile, too. Yes, Jongdae may still be a little savage, but at least his smile was directed at Yixing now.

  
  


Jongdae loved going to Yixing’s library. The room was a little smaller than the open library, but there were so much more books. Yixing’s library had shelves on all walls that reached from the floor all the way to the three-story high ceiling, and they were all filled to the brim.

 

Yixing enjoyed Jongdae’s company, but he was falling behind with his responsibilities.

 

No matter how many times the Queen insisted on cancelling his classes, the Crown Prince wouldn’t stand for it anymore. He was starting to feel stiff with his swordsmanship skills and he thinks he might just fall off his horse since he hasn’t ridden in so long.

 

He had a beautiful white mare named Baizhou, who he’s grown up with and learned to ride. He couldn’t keep a bunny or puppy in the palace, but he could keep Baizhou outdoors in the royal stables. There were also other horses there, but the white steed was his very own.

 

The topic hadn’t come up to Jongdae until he was going back to his room from talking to the kitchen staff. In one of the hallways, he ran into Yixing wearing breeches and a weird looking kind of helmet that he’s never seen before.

 

“What are you wearing?”

 

“My horse riding uniform!” the prince answered. “My riding teacher is complaining that I haven’t seen my horse for a while. He’s right, so since it’s such a nice day out, I thought I’d go riding today.”

 

“Ah,” Jongdae responded while nodding. “Well… be careful…”

 

The younger was going to continue walking to his room, but the prince stopped him.

 

“Hey, would you like to go horse riding together?” Yixing asked.

 

Jongdae vehemently shook his head, which surprised Yixing because he had never seen the younger refuse something that strongly.

 

When Jongdae noticed Yixing’s taken aback expression, he immediately clarified himself. “Sorry… I don’t know how to ride a horse…”

 

“Oh! That’s no problem, I could teach you.”

 

“No,” Jongdae declined again. “Thanks, but I don’t really want to learn…”  

 

Yixing pouted. “Aw, it’s fun, but it’s okay if you really don’t want to. Would you still like come and watch my practice? I want you to meet Baizhou!” he said with a bright smile, then suggested, “Afterwards, you could just sit on the patio and read or something.”

 

Jongdae took a moment, but he finally agreed. Yixing was too excited to notice the younger’s reluctance — he was practically bouncing up and down from the palace to the horse stables with Jongdae following behind.

 

When they arrived at the stables, Baizhou was the first horse that Jongdae spotted. She was a beautiful and bright white, a huge contrast to the other horses who were all browns and blacks.

 

“Hey, girl, how have you been?” Yixing spoke to Baizhou in a sweet voice. Jongdae watched as the prince gently stroked her muzzle and fed her a carrot that he’d pulled out from his pocket. “Have you missed me?”

 

Baizhou inhaled quickly, then puffed the breath out of her nostrils.

 

Yixing laughed, then turned to Jongdae. “That means she’s excited,” he told him happily. “Here, come meet her.”

 

Jongdae hesitantly stepped forward and flinched when Baizhou blew out another bout of air. Yixing laughed when he realized Jongdae was still scared.

 

“She’s completely harmless. You don’t have to be afraid,” the prince encouraged him.

 

The suitor looked back at the prince with slightly pleading eyes, but Yixing just nodded and nudged him towards the horse. Jongdae slowly reached out his hand and gently petted the horse’s muzzle once.

 

“See? Not so bad,” Yixing said as Jongdae became more comfortable with stroking the horse. “She likes you.”

 

Jongdae cleared his throat and stepped back, clutching his book to his chest. “I’m still not going to ride though. I’ll be reading over there,” the marriage candidate said sternly, pointing over to the patio that overlooked the meadow. “Like I said before, be careful.”

 

Yixing watched as Jongdae wordlessly strutted away, then laughed a little at his change in attitude. He went from timid and shy one moment to strict and commanding the next. Jongdae’s tough guy act was a little too cute sometimes.

 

Yixing guided Baizhou out of the stables and saddled her up. Once she was ready, he led her to the open space of the field. Out there, he could see where Jongdae was sitting on the patio. It seemed as if the younger hadn't begun reading and was waiting for Yixing to come out of the stables.

 

Yixing happily waved and Jongdae cutely waved back before finally opening his book.

 

Yixing turned his attention back to Baizhou and began getting ready to mount her. Once he was safely sitting on the saddle, he grabbed both reins and was ready to warm up. His instructor’s voice rang in his head, _'Stay focused, because you haven't ridden on her for a while. Just get used to her again and try to avoid the hurdles for now.'_

 

Yixing gently pressed his heels into Baizhou's stomach and she began trotting forward.

 

For the first half hour, everything went smoothly. Yixing tried to see if Baizhou remembered all their cues, and she listened very well.

 

After a while, Yixing started stealing glances at Jongdae to see if he was watching at all. The prince was a little disappointed to see that he was too into his book to even spare a glance at him.

 

He was thinking about things he could do to catch his attention and be interesting to watch. Maybe he could show that he could ride Baizhou and shoot an arrow at the same time; he could even get a bulls-eye on the target if he tried really hard. Maybe sword fighting practice and riding at the same time? Yixing was really good at keeping his balance while slicing through the obstacle course set up on the field.

 

All of a sudden, Baizhou made a leap over a hurdle and the Crown Prince wasn't prepared at all.

 

He could feel the reins slip out of his loose grip and he was sitting on nothing but air. As he felt himself fly backward, the last thing he saw was Jongdae, looking up from his book with wide and frightened eyes.

  
  


_The Crown Prince had waited until nightfall to secretly leave the palace. Since he didn’t want anyone to know about sneaking out, he couldn’t go through the front entrance, where he would most likely run into the secu_ _rity guards patrolling the outdoor grounds, or even his parents on the way._

 

_He stealthily climbed down the rope that he tied from inside his room and hung outside the window. When he safely landed on the ground, he checked to his left and right to see if any guards had caught him. When the coast was clear, he set off into the night._

 

_He reached the small, nearby town in a little over fifteen minutes. Since it was night, there was no one in sight, so Yixing was easily able to make his way into a small hut without being recognized._

 

_He knocked four times before the door opened for him and he was pulled inside._

 

_“Yixing, what are you doing here?” a voice hissed at him, but he only smiled._

 

_“I came to see you, love. I really, really missed you and couldn’t stay away for much longer.”_

 

_“But it’s so late,” the girl scolded him in a hushed voice. “What if there were thieves lurking in the night? You could’ve gotten hurt if someone saw you!”_

 

_“I missed you, Bingyan. I had the sudden urge to see you.”_

 

_“You can’t do this anymore, we— Yixing, we should talk…”_

 

_Yixing took notice of the hesitation in her voice. “What’s wrong, love? You know you can tell me anything and I’ll listen.”_

 

_“I… I think we shouldn’t be together anymore.”_

 

_“...”_

 

_“I just can’t take it anymore!”_

 

_“Is… is this a joke?” was the only thing Yixing could manage to say. “You told me just last week that you loved me and wouldn’t let anything come betw—”_

 

_“—It’s not a joke, I’m being sincere. I know I said all of that, but I wasn’t thinking straight. You’re the Crown Prince, you’re supposed to marry royalty or nobility. Yixing, I’m not a princess; I’m dirt poor! Your parents would never approve of me!”_

 

_“I thought I’ve reassured you enough times that I’d fight to be together with you, no matter what. I’ll marry you and make you my queen, and no one will have a say in it.”_

 

_“But what if thinking about marrying you and stepping into the role of being Queen frightens me? I just don’t think I’m able to bear the responsibility!”_

 

_“I told you I’d help you with that. You’re not alone in this. You’ll have tons of help from me and from advisors and from so many more people. You don’t have to be afraid. You’d be out of debt and poverty, too.”_

 

_“I’d rather live in poverty than be scrutinized by the public eye for the rest of my life, Yixing. I take back my words of sticking by you when you become Emperor. I can’t live that kind of life.”_

 

_“B-Bingyan…”_

 

_“How about if we run away together? Would you do that for me?”_

 

_Yixing’s head was spinning from Bingyan’s change of heart and her sudden proposal. He knew he had many things he had to stay committed to — he had his mother and father to take care of, obligations as the Crown Prince, and responsibilities as future Emperor…_

 

_“Bǎobèi… will you throw everything away for me?”_

 

_“I—”_

  
  


When Yixing opened his eyes, Jongdae was hovering over him with a worried expression on his face. He wasn’t sure since he was kind of dizzy, but he thought he saw some tears in the younger’s eyes.

 

“He opened his eyes!” Jongdae yelled out looking the other way, then turned back to him. “Yixing, are you alright? Someone called the medical practitioner, so he should be on his way soon!”

 

Yixing groaned as he tried to lift his head and sit up, but Jongdae gently pushed him back down.

 

“Don’t get up, you’re hurt,” Jongdae told him sternly.

 

“What happened?” Yixing asked through his daze.

 

“You fell off your horse,” Jongdae answered, tears brimming in his eyes again.

 

That alarmed Yixing. “Hey, are you crying? Don't cry, I don't feel any broken bones or anything,” the prince tried reassuring the younger. “I think I was just distracted.”

 

That seemed to set off a trigger for Jongdae. The tears that he had been fighting finally fell as he yelled, “DO YOU KNOW HOW TERRIFIED I WAS TO SEE THAT YOUR HORSE JUMPED TEN FEET IN THE AIR AND LANDED WITHOUT YOU ON ITS BACK?! I LOOK AWAY FOR ONE SECOND AND THEN YOU’RE GONE! IMAGINE HOW SCARED I WAS?”

 

“Woah, Jongdae, calm down, please,” Yixing tried to soothe him. “I'm not injured, this has happened before. You don't need to worry about me,” the prince said with a small smile. “Please don't cry anymore, hm?”

 

“Of course I'm going to worry about you if you do things that make me worry,” Jongdae mumbled, wiping away his tears.

 

“Then I’ll try not to do things that will make you worry,” Yixing laughed, laying his head back down on the grass.

 

“You promise?”

 

It wasn’t like Jongdae to do sappy things like this, so Yixing was thrown off — but if it would get him to stop crying… “I promise.”

 

“Okay,” Jongdae said with finality and wiped his tears away. He suddenly turned to see who was approaching them, then faced Yixing again. “The medical practitioner is here; we need to get you checked up.”

  
  


Yixing’s fall was a nasty one, but luckily, since he was wearing his helmet, he got away with a minor concussion. Jongdae kept bugging the medical practitioner to make sure Yixing wasn’t hurt in any other places, and it took a lot of convincing that the prince was fine.

 

Even after the prince was cleared, Jongdae wouldn't leave him alone. He would make sure Yixing was eating properly and taking naps to make sure he was resting more than usual. He constantly asked if his head hurt and gave him medicine when it did.

 

After a while, it became overwhelming. Jongdae was following him everywhere and hovering over him like an overprotective eagle with her chicks — even Yixing's _own_ mother was less caring about the prince than Jongdae! He wouldn't let Yixing go anywhere near Baizhou or let him practice anything that demanded physical exertion.

 

A week after the accident, Yixing finally put a stop to the nonsense when Jongdae dragged him back into his bed after hearing he was going to sword fighting practice.

 

“You can’t,” Jongdae insisted.

 

“Why not?”

 

"You're still injured."

 

Yixing frowned and continued to protest, "My instructor said I should be fine. I'll also be careful and take it easy." The prince threw off the covers, but Jongdae firmly pushed him back down and swiped the covers back over him.

 

"You might make your concussion worse," Jongdae answered back.

 

"I'm fine," Yixing repeated frustratedly. "What are you so scared about? I don't understand why you won't let me do anything ever since I fell off of my horse."

 

"I just don't want anything to happen to you," Jongdae answered quietly, low enough for Yixing to struggle hearing what he had said.

 

"What?"

 

Jongdae took deep breath and let it out before he said, "When I was eight, I watched my uncle ride on his horse... he was into horse racing and he wanted me to be too, so he brought me to his practice."

 

Yixing listened carefully and watched intently as Jongdae continued his story, looking as if it was getting increasingly harder to tell it. "It was a day before one of his most important races — he wanted me to tag along, like always. I'm not even sure what happened, because I was too young and didn't know what was happening until it actually did, but—…”

 

"Your uncle fell off his horse."

 

"Yeah," Jongdae nodded. "He fell off and he died soon after from a severe pelvic fracture. After that, I was afraid to ride a horse or even go near one."

 

Yixing frowned, thinking about how he had continued to bother Jongdae to come watch his practice with Baizhou even when he had initially refused. "I'm sorry, Jongdae, I didn't know... I even made you go near Baizhou..."

 

"It's okay," Jongdae replied. "At first, I didn't want to go at all; but then thinking about my uncle and the same thing happening to you? It worried me to no end, and I don't think I could have peacefully walked away."

 

Yixing felt his emotions stir — he felt guilty, overwhelmed, understanding, and grateful all at once.

 

"Thank you for worrying about me, Jongdae," Yixing quietly thanked him. "I can cancel my practice and we can do something else together."

 

Jongdae shook his head and smiled, "You don't have to. I'm sorry I was being too overbearing for the past week. You can do what you want."

 

"But I _want_ to cancel practice," Yixing shrugged, "I haven't done anything in a week, so another day probably wouldn't hurt."

 

"You wanted to go earlier," Jongdae said skeptically.

 

"People can change their minds," the prince answered mischievously. "Just like how you changed your mind about hating me... _which_ I still need an explanation about."

 

Jongdae’s eyes widened and he suddenly became very embarrassed. The prince decided to taunt him further when it didn’t look like he was going to open his mouth any time soon.

 

“You said it was a story for another day, and I told you I wouldn’t let you forget,” Yixing told him with a smirk on his face.

 

Jongdae groaned and then pouted, but relented, “You’re right, I do owe you an explanation.”

 

Yixing looked at the suitor expectantly to start his story. He had made himself comfortable on his bed, sitting upright with his back leaning against the headboard with his arms folded across his chest.

 

“So,” Jongdae began, “as soon as I turned eighteen, my parents wanted to marry me off immediately — I actually spent my eighteenth birthday going on a blind date! The thing is, they wanted me to marry someone of higher status, but for my whole life, they made me stay inside the house and study. I didn’t associate with _anyone_ and my parents took it upon themselves to arrange me with princesses.

 

“Those princesses… none of them were interested in me.”

 

Yixing eyebrows raised in surprise, confusion etched on his face. “Why is that?”

 

“It was because of _you_ ,” Jongdae accused, but not harshly. “Whenever I tried to talk to them, they’d find a way to relate it back to you. They all wanted to marry you — it got even worse when the Emperor announced that you’d allow princesses into the castle to court you for a month.

 

“Yixing this, Yixing that, every single date… I knew things about you without even meeting you. I started to _hate_ hearing your name. My parents made me feel like a failure for not being able to be as great as you, so I started to resent you for all the wrong reasons,” Jongdae admitted. “I admit, I was unnecessarily aggressive during our first meeting when I didn’t even know you as a person, and I’ve never apologized to you properly — so I’m sorry.”

 

Yixing frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, too, Jongdae. I didn’t know,” he told him thoughtfully. “You must have gone through a hard time.”

 

Jongdae shrugged. “I realized it’s my parents who are the ones that are doing me wrong. They’ve set me up with so many people, that I feel like it’s a system. You probably can’t imagine how fast my parents jumped on the opportunity once they heard you were looking for male suitors. Jumping from person to person like that, I’ve never been in love; I’ve never even fallen in love before. It’s why I’m so against arranged marriage — I wouldn’t be marrying for love, but instead because my parents are selling me off.”

 

Yixing nodded, lost in thought with Jongdae’s words weighing down on him.

 

He felt the exact same way.

 

“But what about you?” Jongdae asked, interrupting his thoughts.

 

“What about me?”

 

“You told me you didn’t want to get married either. You don’t seem like the type to give up on marriage just because your sperm count is low.”

 

Yixing covered his mouth in shock, completely scandalized that Jongdae brought that up without hesitation. Bringing his hand back down he asked, “So you’ve heard of that?”

 

“Yeah, I was even there at the celebration. Your mom also told me that you’re _terrible_ at lying.”

 

“What?! You were there?” Yixing exclaimed, “And she said that?!”

 

“Yeah, well… if it’s true, I just wanna say, i’m sorry for your nonexistent future children.”

 

At that, Yixing burst out laughing and Jongdae grew puzzled, because he didn't think what he said was _that_ funny.

 

“No, no! You’re right, it was an excuse!” Yixing laughed. “I was trying to get my parents to stop arranging me with people, but it backfired. They thought I was coming out to everyone instead.”

 

Jongdae stared at Yixing because he wasn’t really sure what was going on or what he was trying to say.

 

“Rest assured, my sperm count is fine.”

 

“Then?” Jongdae asked unsurely.

 

“Well, they’re probably gonna keep trying to set me up with other guys until I settle down. I’ve already told them so many times that I never want to get married…”

 

“You don’t want to get married _at all?_ ” Jongdae asked surprise.

 

Yixing shook his head.

 

“I’ve… fallen in love once before,” the prince admitted. “But it didn’t end so nicely.

 

“She was a performer in the Emperor’s Court, and I first saw her at a banquet held for my father. I immediately needed to know who she was, so I secretly met with her. I fell in love with her and risked sneaking out of the castle to see her at night. The problem was that she wasn’t of royalty or nobility — she was dirt poor. It got to her and she couldn’t take the pressure anymore. She made me choose between her or the Crown.

 

“I figured I didn’t have the right to make her choose between me or living the life she wanted if I couldn’t choose her, so we parted ways. I figured after that, I couldn’t put someone else through that kind of predicament… I’ve decided to carry the burden by myself.”

 

Jongdae shook his head. “Not everyone can handle the pressure of being beside the Emperor… but there are also people who can,” the younger told him, with a small encouraging smile. “Look at your mother — she turned out fine. She’s there beside your father, and I’m sure you’ll want someone by your side, too. No one should have to carry their burdens by themselves.”  

 

Jongdae didn’t know why he was so worried, but he didn’t like the thought of Yixing suffering alone. He kept thinking about how he should just let the prince do what he felt, but something in the back of his mind was nagging him that he should care about it.

 

Yixing only shrugged. “It does get hard from time to time, but I’ve convinced myself I can do it. Also, even without trying not to, I really haven’t fallen for any of the princesses my parents set me up with. I just wanted them to stop so badly, that I even decided to make that announcement at my birthday celebration even when I’m terrified of making speeches.”

 

“Wait a minute,” Jongdae froze. You're scared of something as small as making speeches, but you're not scared of riding horses?”

 

Yixing pouted and protested, “It’s not a small fear! Also, I’ve been riding horses since I was a child; it’s almost second nature to me. Speaking in front of a huge crowd though…”

 

“You could die riding a horse, but speaking in front of a crowd literally does you no physical harm,” Jongdae deadpanned.

 

“It’s all up here,” Yixing told him, pointing to his head. “I just told you my one and only fear. Don’t make fun of it,” the prince pouted.

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Jongdae apologized, then groaned. “This turned into a sap session and I didn’t even realize,” he complained, but a smile crept onto his face. “But I guess it was nice talking about that with someone.”

 

Yixing realized that he felt the same — it was as if a huge weight lifted off his shoulders and he could finally breathe freely.

 

Having someone to relate to, talk to, and turn to for the first time was actually really nice.

  
  


“How was archery practice?” Jongdae asked, folding his book on his lap.

 

The suitor was splayed on the small couch, his legs hanging over the armrest and his hands holding a book, when the Crown Prince briskly strided into the library.

 

“Bullseye,” Yixing said with a thumbs up. “I’m improving.”

 

“That’s good! Are you done for the day?”

 

“Yup,” the prince answered, plopping down on his own couch. “What are you reading?”

 

Jongdae picked up his book and turned the cover towards Yixing. “ _With You, There Is No Us_ by Kim Sooki. I’m almost done with it, I just have a few pages left.”

 

Yixing hummed in response, so Jongdae decided to ask, “I can pick another book from your shelves, right?”

 

“Yeah, of course!” the prince replied enthusiastically. “These books aren’t gonna read themselves. Feel free to choose any.”

 

Jongdae spent the next few moments finishing up his book while the prince began reading his own. When he was done, he set his book aside on the side table next to his couch and got up.

 

The shelves reached all the way to the ceiling, but Jongdae decided he could probably spot something that he’d like to read without climbing any ladders. He walked all around the library, trying to find a spine with a title that sounded unique. He looked at the shelves that were in his line of sight and down to the floor.

 

When Jongdae couldn’t find anything that piqued his interest, he turned away from the shelf. “Yixing,” he called out, “do you have any recommendations?”

 

The prince put down his book and thought a little. “I feel like you’d enjoy Journey to the West, if you’re up for it. It’s a classic. It’s on that shelf,” he directed him, pointing to a shelf on the other side of the room.

 

Jongdae walked over and searched for it, but he couldn’t find it. “I don't need to climb the ladder for it, right?”

 

“It should be about eye-level,” the prince called out.

 

Jongdae went back to looking for it, even tiptoeing to see if it was on the shelf above and bending down to see if it was below, but he still couldn’t find it.

 

“Hey, are you sure—”  

 

Jongdae turned around, only to be met with the prince’s fierce gaze.

 

“Oh.”

 

The corner of Yixing’s lips lifted into a half smirk and Jongdae could feel his heart suddenly beating faster. With the prince in close proximity like this, no space whatsoever, Jongdae became extremely hyper aware of his surroundings.

 

Like how good Yixing smelled — he just came back from archery practice, so of course he’d have showered. Up close, Jongdae noticed how his hair was a little damp and the scent coming off of him smelled of butter cream.

 

Yixing lifted his arm to trap Jongdae between him and the bookshelf. He began to lean in closer and closer, so Jongdae scrunched up his face and closed his eyes in a panic, not knowing what else to do. At this point, his heart was hammering against his chest and he felt like he couldn’t breathe anything but Yixing’s scent.

 

A few moments passed and Jongdae could still feel Yixing’s breath on him, but nothing seemed to be happening. He slowly opened his eyes to see Yixing’s expression had changed to something softer and more amused — his arm wasn’t cornering him anymore and was holding up a book instead.

 

“It was right behind you,” Yixing said, stepping back a little to wave it in his face. “You were looking with your mouth instead of your eyes.”

 

Jongdae pouted and snatched the book from the prince’s hand before muttering a quick “thanks”. He hurriedly made his way back to his couch to bury his face into the book before the prince could see the embarrassing flush creeping up on his cheeks.

 

Yixing only chuckled to himself before walking back to his own seat.

 

Jongdae tried not to ignore the prince and kept his eyes focused on the first lines of the book.

  
  


Jongdae couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened.

 

He should have known Yixing was a flirt because of all the princesses he had to spend time with, but he still felt attacked.

 

He’s not sure what he had expected to happen, but at the moment, he was sure he felt something different between them. He was too shy to bring it up when they exited the library and went to dinner together.

 

Ever since that day, he hadn't seen the prince, so he couldn't gauge how awkward the situation was between them. He wasn't sure if he wanted to bring it up to him or pretend like none of that ever happened — but if Yixing were to tease him like that ever again, he's not sure he could survive another attack.

 

HE JUST WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THE HECK YIXING WAS DOING TO HIM AND WHY.

 

He wanted to know why his heart was beating like he ran a mile race and why his cheeks were flushed as if he were in the sun all day — why one person was so quick to have an impact on him like that.

 

With all of these days passing by, the countdown of their two months was going to waste. Jongdae saw Yixing for almost every day for the past few weeks, that he got so used to the prince’s presence. He realized he wanted to see him more and more.

 

He decided that he was going to confront Yixing, but the Crown Prince never came down to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Thoughts of Yixing avoiding him clouded Jongdae’s mind and he scoffed to himself.

 

“He’s suddenly becoming shy after doing that to _me?_ Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” he muttered to himself while making his way to Yixing’s bedroom.

 

He stopped in his tracks when he saw two workers stationed outside of Yixing’s door.

 

“What’s going on?” Jongdae asked, while approaching them. With each step he took, he began to get more and more worried. “Is Yixing in there?”

 

The two workers looked at each other before turning back to Jongdae and nodding.

 

“He’s been in there the whole time?” Jongdae asked in disbelief. “Is he sick?”

 

“It’s not like he caught a cold per se,” one of the workers said hesitantly, “but I think he’s a little sick in the head.”

 

At that, Jongdae grew alarmed. “What do you mean by that?”

 

The workers gave each other a look again before one of them spoke up, “His Majesty was told by the Queen that he was to give a speech in a week. Once he heard that, he had a mental breakdown and locked himself in his room. He hasn’t been out since then.”

 

“I don’t know if you know, but His Majesty has a _huge_ fear of public speaking. This isn’t the first time this has happened, so we know he’s going to be alright,” the other worker said nervously. “It’s just that this time, he’s refusing meals. He must be really scared this time.”

 

“Is his fear really that bad?” Jongdae asked. “He mentioned it to me once, but I didn’t think much about it. He seemed fine when he made that speech at his 21st birthday party.”

 

“No one knew he was going to make that announcement, but he must have practiced for _months_.”

 

“There’s no way he could have done that speech without adequate preparation. I kind of think the Queen let that announcement slide because the Crown Prince showed he was improving his public speaking.”

 

Jongdae realized that statement made sense. He looked past the workers and at the closed doors, behind where Yixing was probably panicking and sleep-deprived.

 

“Can I go in and see him?” Jongdae asked, hoping they’d step aside and let him.

 

But they shook their heads solemnly and stood their ground.

 

“Sorry, Sir. It’s not recommended.”

 

“Not even just five minutes? I’m worried about him and I at least want to check on how he’s doing.”

 

The two workers frowned. “To be honest, the doors are locked. We are only here on standby if he ever decides to poke his head out and ask for something. Otherwise, we are not allowed to bother him.”

 

At that, Jongdae knew it was useless to protest or try any further. He thanked them and walked away, crestfallen. The only thing he could do now was wait until the prince breaks his silence.

  
  


It was after one too many breakfasts alone when Jongdae had enough and was adamant on seeing Yixing. Despite the palace staff's protests, he marched straight up to Yixing's room and banged on the door. He knew he was inside there, holing himself up. Even though he had a bathroom, he couldn't stay in there without starving himself.

 

"Sir, he hasn't eaten for four and a half days, and he usually doesn't eat until whatever he's preparing for comes around," one of the workers told him. "He only opens the door when he needs a glass of water."

 

"He's going to faint like that!!" Jongdae yelled out, then turned back to the door to pound on it again. "Open up, Zhang Yixing!! I'm not gonna stop yelling until you open this door!!"

 

Jongdae’s fists continued to strike the door, despite the palace staff’s protests. After a few minutes of more yelling and banging, one of the double doors slowly creaked open and Jongdae finally got to see the Crown Prince.

 

He looked _terrible_.

 

His red eyes were dragged down from the weight of the dark bags underneath them and his hair was all over the place. His face seemed a little droopy, most likely because he hadn't been taking care of himself lately and from lack of sleep.

 

"What happened to you?" Jongdae managed to ask past his initial shock. Yixing wordlessly ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Jongdae shook his head and tutted. "This won't do. You need to sleep."

 

"I can't," Yixing responded listlessly.

 

"Yes, you can," Jongdae answered back. "You just won't."

 

Everyone watched as Jongdae grabbed Yixing's hand and hauled him back into the room. He didn't mean to shut the door in the workers’ faces, but it made him so upset seeing Yixing like this.

 

"I have to continue working on this speech," Yixing protested weakly, not even bothering to get out of the strong hold Jongdae had on his hand. “My mother only told me a week in advance about this event…”

 

"You can barely speak without sounding like you're going to collapse, how are you going to continue on the speech?" Jongdae argued back. "You've been working on it non-stop for days and you probably don’t even take breaks. You're absolutely ridiculous."

 

Yixing was about to speak up again, but Jongdae grabbed the eye mask he saw on the side table and wrenched it over Yixing's eyes. Due to sleep deprivation, Yixing was too slow to react and before he knew it, he was lying down on his bed.

 

Jongdae threw the blankets on top of Yixing and waited to see if he would try to escape — but the bed was so comfortable and Yixing felt as if his body was slowly melting into the mattress, it was too hard to fight it. Jongdae walked all around the huge room, covering the windows with their blinds so that the room’s lighting would be dimmed down, then looked over at the Crown Prince on his bed. When he saw that Yixing wasn't going to put up a fight, he had an idea.

 

He climbed on top of the bed and hovered over Yixing before lowering himself onto him.

 

"What are you doing?" Yixing asked.

 

"I'm making sure you're getting the sleep you need," Jongdae answered. "Since I put an eye mask on you, I can't tell if you're actually closing your eyes. By doing this, I can hear your heartbeat and see if it slows down when you fall asleep."

 

"That—"

 

"Wow, it's beating like crazy right now."

 

Yixing swallowed and felt his cheeks heat up, but Jongdae was too preoccupied with concentrating on his pulse.

 

"You’re probably getting high blood pressure from all this stress,” Jongdae whispered to him, even though Yixing was pretty sure that wasn't the case. “You need to relax.”

 

"... I'm... trying..."

 

"Am I too heavy for you? You can't breathe properly? I must have gained weight during my stay here and that hurts my pride a little,” Jongdae laughed, about to get up and lift himself off Yixing.

 

Before that could happen, Yixing's hand came out from underneath the covers and grabbed onto Jongdae's arm. "No, stay. Please."

 

Because of the eye mask, Yixing couldn't see the questioning look Jongdae gave him, so he continued when the other didn't move. "You're really light. It wasn’t a bother at all."

 

Jongdae smiled, then lowered himself back down. "Then, you have to sleep, alright? I'll know if you're not."

 

Yixing nodded and fell silent. Jongdae listened as the prince’s breathing evened out and his pulse became calmer as the minutes ticked by. Soon, Jongdae also fell asleep to the peaceful rhythm of Yixing's beating heart.

  
  


When Yixing awoke, he removed the eye mask to see Jongdae sitting on the side chair reading a book. He saw the lights turned on his room and looked towards the window, which showed no sign of light in the night sky.

 

"How long have I been out?" Yixing asked in a panic.

 

Jongdae looked up from his book. "Oh, you're up," he said, then looked at his wristwatch. "You slept for about fourteen hours."

 

"Fourteen hours?!" Yixing exclaimed with wide eyes, then scrambled off the bed only to tumble off of it. "That's so much lost time!!"

 

"Yixing, calm down, that's probably more than how much you've sleep this past week combined," Jongdae retaliated. "It was fourteen hours well spent. You look so much better now."

 

"It doesn't matter how much better I look, it matters how well I recite my speech in front of all those people," Yixing managed to say through gritted teeth. "Where... where is it," he muttered, his head turning every direction and eyes frantically searching throughout the room where he last put his papers.

 

Jongdae could only watch, getting angrier each second as Yixing searched for his notebook and the papers on his speech.

 

"Have you seen my papers? You didn't do anything to them did you?" the prince asked, getting more and more frustrated. "Jongdae, did you put them somewhere?"

 

"Yixing, stop this right now. Let's get dinner, you haven't eaten all day," Jongdae told him sternly. He withheld himself from correcting that last statement into _all week._

 

“I’m not hungry,” Yixing quickly answered, still searching. “Where did I put them?”

 

Jongdae sighed, pulled out the papers from behind him, and stood. “They’re right here,” he said, holding them up at the level of his own face and waving it a little. Jongdae’s face didn’t seem impressed, but the prince didn’t even notice.  

 

A little relief flooded Yixing’s expression, but then he was alarmed once again. “Why were you hiding them behind your back? You should’ve just given them to me as soon as I asked where they were.”

 

The prince made a move to take the papers from him, but the younger snatched the papers out of his reach.

 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Yixing asked in a threatening voice. He was too caught up in his own emotional frenzy that he hadn’t even looked Jongdae in the eyes yet. He had been looking for and staring at the speech papers this entire time.

 

So finally, Yixing’s gaze went from the papers to the face of an angry Jongdae.

 

"Can't you see that I'm worried for you? You promised me you wouldn’t do things that would make me worry!" Jongdae yelled out. "I haven't seen you in days and the moment I finally do, you were almost unrecognizable! It hurts to see you wasting away like this because of a stupid speech and you won't even let me help you!"

 

“Jongdae, I—”

 

“I wanted to help you get rest and set your mind straight so you could get back into studying your speech in a healthy manner, but you’re refusing everything. Of course, I’d rather help you than watch you waste away like that again! For the couple of days you were gone, I was alone with nothing to do but read and talk to Pip, and wondering what the heck was happening to you! You should have asked for my help! And don’t you dare give me that bullshit that you’re better off when you’re alone, because you’re not. You don’t want to be left alone — you just think you want to be alone because you’re used to it.”

 

Yixing was speechless. He really had been too caught up with worrying, that he completely forgot about Jongdae. The younger seemed to always put Yixing before himself, but he couldn’t even do the same for him.

 

The silence was suffocating — Yixing wasn’t responding and Jongdae had enough.

 

“You want to keep memorizing your speech like a madman? Fine!” he said, throwing the papers down onto the ground between them. “You’re probably going to pass out before you can get up in front of all those people! You can do whatever you want now — I’m going to eat. I was waiting for you to wake up, so we could eat together, but it seems like you don’t want to. If you’re just going to be swept up with your speech again, I won’t be coming back in here.”

 

Yixing made no move to pick up the papers as he watched the younger reach his door. Jongdae was about to wrench the door open when the prince finally broke his silence.

 

"The speech is less than three days away," Yixing said quietly. "Jongdae, I'm terrified."

 

Jongdae faltered back from the door and slowly turned back around to face the prince. The look on Yixing’s face seemed so lost and defeated that Jongdae felt bad for almost walking out on him.

 

“What are you so scared of?”

 

Yixing shook his head, disappointment in himself showing again, but Jongdae wouldn’t stand for it.

 

“I know you’re a smart guy. You could probably make that speech and memorize it in a day. What are you so held up on?”

 

“It’s… appealing to the people. Being liked by them. Standing in front of so many people gives me so much anxiety, I always end up forgetting what I’m going to say… I can’t speak when so many eyes are on me — judging me, scrutinizing my every word and tone. I can’t even practice the speech without imagining all those eyes staring at me… I don’t want them to live in fear, thinking their country is going to be run by such an incompetent leader...”  

 

Jongdae stared as the prince completely let go and opened himself up to him. This was the second time, and Jongdae couldn’t believe he thought Yixing was a completely perfect prince living a perfect life before he came here.

 

Yixing laughed bitterly when he saw Jongdae wasn’t answering. “You’re probably thinking, _‘What kind of prince can become the Emperor if he can’t even make a speech in front of a city. What will happen to him when he’s talking to the whole nation?’_ ”

 

“No,” Jongdae immediately answered. “Why in the world would I think that? I think you’re more than fit to run the country. If you care about the people of your nation that much, of course you’re capable of being Emperor.”

 

“But if I can’t even sp—”

 

“—I think…” Jongdae immediately cut him off before he could trash himself even more, “you’re just focusing on the negative side of things. A ruler’s affinity towards his people means more than you think. There are rulers who don’t care about their citizens, but only about the power that they have. You deserve more credit than you give yourself. A terrible speech made by you isn’t the end of the world.”

 

At first, Yixing could only stare at Jongdae for the words that had just left his mouth — they were oddly the most comforting words he’s ever heard in his life and it was as if some of the huge burden on his shoulders were lifted off. He then gave Jongdae a small smile.

 

“You’re right…” Yixing said, and Jongdae perked up, having realized that his reasoning had finally and successfully gotten to Yixing. “I know that everything you said is right. I know it in the back of my head, but I still feel like when I see all those people looking at me, I’ll freeze up…  but still, I feel a bit calmer now.”

 

“I’m so glad,” Jongdae sincerely said. “But, you know, if seeing the people is the only problem, then for now, just close your eyes and then say the speech. If you’re going to be up on the balcony, I’m sure no one would notice,” he suggested.

 

“They’re definitely gonna see my eyes are closed,” Yixing answered back with a light laugh.

 

“Then… I’ll paint some eyes on your lids so it’ll look like they’re open,” Jongdae said mischievously. Yixing laughed again, just imagining how ridiculous he’d look with paint over his eyes, and Jongdae smiled because the light was back in the prince’s eyes. He spoke again,

 

“Either way, just know that I’m here to help you. I really believe you can overcome this. It's gonna take a while, but I’ll be beside you every step of the way.”

  
  


Yixing let Jongdae lead him to the dining room and they ate a late dinner together. Even though it was hard for the prince to stomach some food because he hadn’t eaten anything in the past few days, he ate just because Jongdae wanted him to.

 

“All better now?” Jongdae asked as they were walking back to Yixing’s room.

 

“So… full…” Yixing groaned, clutching onto his stomach. “My six-pack is probably gone.”

 

“Oh, stop it,” the younger scolded him. “You didn’t even eat that much.”

 

“I ate enough to probably fall into a food coma… I’m gonna end up falling asleep again!” the prince whined.

 

Jongdae stopped at the front of Yixing’s bedroom door and turned to look at him with a serious expression on his face. “Not to be that person again, but _good_. You lost so many hours of sleep. I’d be happy if you went to sleep again,” he said earnestly.

 

“I have no time for that,” Yixing told him cautiously. He walked past the younger and opened the door to his room. He immediately dove straight for the papers, already looking at the written words and mouthing off the speech.

 

Jongdae could only sigh as he closed the doors behind him. “Look,” he started, and Yixing had the decency to look up from the papers and at Jongdae. “I’m sorry for blowing up on you like that earlier. You know I wasn’t angry at you because you ignored me for your speech, right? I could care less about if you don’t have time to spend with me, because I have Pip and the palace staff. I was angry because you were neglecting your own health.”

 

The look in Yixing’s eyes turned soft and he spoke gently, “But it’s _my own health_ … why don’t you worry about yourself?”

 

“Because you do things that _make_ me worry about you,” Jongdae answered. “When you start taking care of yourself and stop getting hurt, then I’ll mind my own business.”

 

“But I mean, take care of yourself, too,” Yixing said quietly. “It’s getting late and if you stay here with me, you’ll probably be up the whole night.”

 

“Hey,” Jongdae called out. “I’ll be fine. I took a nap with you earlier and one night isn’t gonna kill me — as opposed to you, who didn’t sleep for a whole week.”

 

“I’m still alive,” the prince shrugged sheepishly.

 

“Barely!!” Not wanting to go into it again — especially when they resolved it — Jongdae sighed and said, “Let’s work on the speech right now. What do you need help on?”

 

Yixing put the paper behind his back and started calmly reciting, _“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming out today on such short notice. Today I am here to discuss…”_

 

Jongdae listened as Yixing went on with his speech flawlessly. He didn’t stumble on a single word, nor hesitate to continue any sentences. It was a whole eight minutes later when Yixing began to say the final words.

 

_“... Thank you – each and every one of you – so much for being here and for giving me your undivided attention.”_

 

Jongdae just gaped at the older, not finding words to say because he wasn’t able to comprehend the situation.

 

“You,” Jongdae started, but he was too speechless to continue.

 

“Hm?”

 

“You have it all written and memorized perfectly. What exactly do you need help with? Why are you worrying so much?”

 

“The only thing I’ve been doing for the past week was writing this speech and memorizing it, of course I should be able to say it well like that. I was only able to recite it perfectly because I was doing so only to you and not in front of a huge crowd. Every time I think about saying the speech in front of a bunch of people, that’s when my mind runs blank,” the prince explained.

 

“Hmm,” Jongdae thought. “When you stand in front of everyone, then why don’t you just pretend that you’re only saying it to me?”

 

“Jongdae, that’s like telling me to look a tiger in the eye and pretend it’s a kitten.”

 

The younger frowned, but then an idea popped into his head. “Hey, do you have like a projector and a huge screen? Or even a white wall will be fine.”

 

…

 

When Yixing had led Jongdae to a projector room, the younger immediately set to work. He accessed the computer and pulled up a live moving gif of a huge crowd. Immediately, Yixing froze up.

 

“Okay, calm down,” Jongdae told him gently. “Deep breaths. What I want you to do is practice it slowly. You don’t have to recite the speech without your paper yet. Just read off of it first. One paragraph at a time.”

 

Step by step, Yixing got through the whole speech, standing in the front of the projector with Jongdae right next to him.

 

Yixing also eventually tried without the paper; even though the crowd on the projection was daunting, after a few tries, he was able to say the first paragraph without any mistakes. Jongdae told him that he didn’t have to have the whole speech down by the end of their session, and Yixing accepted that.

 

After that night, the prince was coaxed out of his room again to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Throughout the day, they would work on the speech in the projection room with Jongdae standing right by his side.

 

The night before the speech, Yixing was able to successfully recite the speech _and_ he looked healthy and well-rested.

 

There was no other way to express his joy after perfectly reciting his speech for a third time except to wrap his arms around Jongdae and jump up in down in excitement.

 

“I DID IT, I DID IT!” the prince yelled happily, and Jongdae couldn’t help but laugh along.

  
  


It was mid-morning when people started filing into the palace grounds. Guards lined up in formation around the palace, so none of the citizens could actually get inside the building. They were to stay outside and listen as the Crown Prince gave his speech from the balcony of the palace.

 

Jongdae watched as Yixing paced back and forth, biting his nails — it was a nervous habit of his. The only people in the room besides them were the Queen and some palace workers. They were in the room that led to the balcony, and they had a few minutes before the Queen would go out, greet the people, and introduce the Crown Prince to them.

 

"Stop biting your nails," Jongdae scolded him lightly. "They're gonna end up bleeding and it'll hurt."

 

Yixing shot him a look and went back to biting his nails anyway.

 

"You're gonna be fine. You did so well yesterday. You didn't make progress for nothing," Jongdae said, trying to comfort him. He could see the prince's shoulder relax a bit after hearing those words, but his nail-biting habit still didn't stop.

 

"I'm going to go out now," the Queen announced to them. She nodded and patted Yixing on the shoulder. There were no other words exchanged, but the look in her eyes told her son that she had the confidence in him that he could do well.

 

"Good morning, all," Jongdae could hear the Queen greet everyone outside. He turned to the prince who kept jumping up and down and shaking out his arms, as if pumping himself up for a race.

 

"Are you getting ready to run 2K?" Jongdae joked, trying to lighten the mood.

 

The prince chose to ignore him, not intentionally, but asked instead, "Do you really think I'm going to do well?"

 

Jongdae nodded sincerely. "I do. And I'll be right here watching. You won't be alone."

 

"Now everyone, please welcome my son, the Crown Prince, Zhang Yixing!"

 

Yixing took a deep breath before walking outside onto the balcony next to his mother. She nodded at him before stepping back and returning to the room where Jongdae was. They both stood by the doorway, silently watching Yixing from behind.

 

The prince tried to keep a positive mind — Jongdae's words still echoed in his head. He could see how much the younger believed in him, even staying up all night and practicing all day with him. Yixing really had the confidence that he could do it.

 

Looking down from the balcony was his mistake. There were thousands of faces staring up at him — even more so than the crowd on the projector. It was a sea of people that was so vast, he couldn't even see the green grass on the ground anymore. This was probably the biggest crowd he had ever had to say in speech in front of. All the more faces, it was double the amount of eyes scrutinizing his every move.

 

He began to panic.

 

He couldn't breathe.

 

He clutched onto the balcony railing for dear life, as if it was the only thing that could hold him up at the moment.

 

Almost immediately, he felt hands on his back, trying to steady him. Gasping for breath, he turned back and saw Jongdae's worried face. Jongdae turned off the microphone that was attached to the collar of the prince's shirt.

 

"Breathe," the younger told him calmly.

 

Yixing listened to him, breathing in and out. After what seemed like a million moments, but was in reality only a few minutes, Yixing was able to calm down.

 

"You can handle it now?" Jongdae asked.

 

Yixing nodded weakly.

 

Jongdae turned to leave, when he felt a grip on his wrist.

 

"Please," Yixing softly pleaded. "Stay close to me."

 

Jongdae saw the emotion on Yixing's face, just how much he needed him and so much more; he gave a comforting smile and nodded. "I'm right by your side. And I won't ever leave."

 

Yixing's hand moved from Jongdae's wrist and to his hand. He intertwined their fingers tightly; not enough for it to hurt, but enough for him to let Jongdae know that he didn't intend on letting go anytime soon.

 

The crowd had looked on worriedly and were wondering if their prince was okay. They were murmuring amongst each other if anyone had an idea of what was going on.

 

Yixing turned his microphone back on with his free hand and apologized, "I'm sorry everyone. You must have been really worried. I'm alright now."

 

The crowd burst into cheers at the confirmation that the Crown Prince was alright. Jongdae turned to look at Yixing and saw the genuinely surprised expression on his face.

 

Yixing had nothing to worry about — he was loved by the people.

 

A soft smile appeared on his lips as he looked at Jongdae, then back at the crowd. "I'll start the speech now, I'm sorry for the short delay.

 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming out today on such short notice. Today I am here to discuss…”

 

As Yixing continued to give the speech, Jongdae listened to how flawlessly Yixing execute each and every word, each and every line. It was just like in practice. He couldn't help but think about how far they've come together — the Jongdae two months ago would not have given a damn about practicing a speech with the Crown Prince.

 

But he cared so much now.

 

He cared _so_ much about Yixing.

 

He didn't want to see Yixing go through a panic attack like that ever again, but if he did, he wanted to be there for him to hold him and comfort him until he could breathe again.

 

He came to a realization that he had feelings for Yixing and wanted to stay with him for as long as he could.

 

But how much longer did they have together?

 

“... Thank you – each and every one of you – so much for being here and for giving me your undivided attention.”

 

Jongdae hadn't even realized that the speech was finished. It had been a full eight minutes of Yixing not making any errors or stumbling with his words, and Jongdae was too deep in his thoughts to follow through.

 

The prince turned to him with the happiest expression on his face. "Jongdae, I did it. I did the real thing this time. You were here with me the entire time."

 

Jongdae smiled back. "I told you. I knew you could do it."

 

Yixing could only continue smiling, too giddy to say any more words. He turned back to the crowd and waved his goodbyes.

 

When they turned back to go inside the palace, their hands were still intertwined.

  
  


After the speech, things returned back to relatively normal — as normal as it could get with Jongdae's realized feelings.

 

Now that they didn't have to frantically worry about something, Jongdae realized that the end of the two months was drawing very near. As the date for Jongdae to leave grew closer, he became more antsy and upset.

 

Truth be told, he didn't want to leave. He definitely wanted to stay and live with the Queen and palace staff who have been nice to him throughout the duration of his entire stay — but most of all, he wanted to stay by Yixing's side because he had grown to have feelings for the Crown Prince.

 

Yixing hadn't brought up the end of the two months to him, and Jongdae didn't want to be the one to start talking about it with him either.

  
He was scared.

 

He was scared that he'd be directly told to leave. He was scared Yixing would tell him, cold and straight-out, that he had no feelings for him and that he wanted him to go back to wherever he came from.

 

Jongdae would rather be the first to pick up the shattered pieces of his heart and disappear from the palace than have Yixing tell him to leave his heart behind.

  
  


It was after dinner when Jongdae was packing up his clothes into his suitcases. He was almost finished stuffing the last of his clothes into a random suitcase when the Head Chef knocked on his door.

 

"Hello, Jongdae, may I come in?" he asked.

 

"Yeah, of course," Jongdae answered, then chuckled. "That is, if you're able to stand the mess around here."

 

The chef walked in and his gaze wandered around — he's never been in Jongdae's room — before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

 

"So, you're really leaving tomorrow morning..."

 

Jongdae frowned. "As much as I don't want to, yes.”

 

“Do you really have to go?”

 

“The two months are basically up — I don't have a place in this palace anymore."

 

"You know that's not true," the chef protested. "The Queen and the Emperor really like you, the kitchen— actually, the whole palace staff really wishes you could stay, and most importantly, the Crown Prince has finally found a friend in you."

 

"That's the problem," Jongdae answered, trying to hide his frustration. "He only sees me as a friend. I... I see him as more than that. I can't stay here as his 'marriage candidate' if he doesn't want to get married."

 

“You’ve… fallen for the prince…”

 

Jongdae sadly nodded, then smiled. “How could I not?”

 

“Have you told him?” When Jongdae didn’t respond, the chef continued, “So you’re just running away?”

 

“He doesn’t have to know. I don’t want to place that burden on him when he doesn’t like me back,” Jongdae tried to reason, though it seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than the chef.

 

“So you haven’t even let the prince know of your leave yet?” the cook asked in astonishment. “You must be really busy. Should I notify him for you?”

 

Jongdae shook his head. “I don’t want him to know, because then he’ll see me off. If I catch even a glimpse of him now, it’ll be more painful for me go.”

  
  


When the first beams of light cracked at dawn, Jongdae was already awake — he had lain in bed with his eyes wide open all night because he couldn't sleep.

 

After an hour of the sun lighting up the sky, Jongdae had already evacuated his room and was waiting inside the carriage. Some of the palace workers were loading his luggage onto the back of the carriage, while others were solemnly watching the scene unfolding before them.

 

Jongdae had said goodbye to everyone he wanted to.

 

He told himself he wouldn't cry. The approaching dark clouds from the other side of the sky could cry, but he told himself that he absolutely wouldn't. He tried to distract himself by looking at Pip, who was inside his cage.

 

The coachman climbed onto the box seat in the front of the carriage, then turned to Jongdae through the window that separated them.

 

"Ready to go?"

 

Jongdae wanted to say no — he wanted to run out of the carriage and apologize to Yixing for even thinking of leaving without saying goodbye — but he knew he would never leave on his own accord if he entered the palace again. He would most probably end up being hurt.

 

And so he nodded and quietly answered, "Yes, let's go."

  
  


Yixing walked into the dining room and saw that, for the first time ever, he was the first one to arrive. Usually his mother or Jongdae were already sitting at the table, so he found it really strange. He dismissed it though, thinking that maybe one of them had something to do in the morning and the other had overslept.

 

He greeted the staff who were standing around the table with a “good morning” and a smile, but the way they answered to him caught him off guard.

 

The response they gave to the Crown Prince was lackluster and they all seemed so depressed. Their heads and shoulders hung low and none of them were smiling.

 

He was about to ignore it, but he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong with the atmosphere today?”

 

The workers exchanged quick and nervous glances at each other, eyes flitting from one person to another, but it seemed like no one was going to give him an answer. Yixing was about to open his mouth to say something when his mother came hurtling into the room while yelling.

 

“XINGTUO!! XINGTUO!!”

 

“Mother?” he replied, not sure why she was so  out of breath. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Jongdae… he’s—”

 

“He’s what?” Yixing asked urgently, eyes wide in alarm. “What happened to Jongdae?”

 

“He’s gone!! His room is vacated and he’s nowhere to be found in the palace!!”

 

Yixing’s heart sank as he registered what his mother had just said. Without another word, he ran out of the dining hall and sprinted all the way to Jongdae’s room.

 

True to his mother’s words, the room was emptied of anything that showed Jongdae’s presence — right back to the way it was before the marriage candidate had arrived almost two months ago.

 

_Two months ago. It's been two months._

 

“No… no way…” Yixing gasped out. He didn’t think after that, he just did. He did anything that his gut instinct told him to do, and before he knew it, he had ran all the way to the front entrance of the palace.

 

He saw his horse outside, all saddled up and ready to go. His mother, with a worried expression on her face, told him, “Go now! He left half an hour ago! If you hurry, you could still catch up to him!”

 

Without hesitation, Yixing climbed onto Baizhou and grabbed hold of the reins. He dug his heels into the horse’s stomach and, immediately, Baizhou began sprinting out of the palace grounds, following the path that led into the forest.

  
  


The farther away he got from the castle and the closer he got to the port, the more forlorn and miserable Jongdae felt. He was too sad to even sit up straight in this lonely carriage; he wanted to slump down even further into the seat and fade away into the cushions. It didn't help that it was starting to rain.

 

The voice of the coachman interrupted his thoughts, "Sir, we might be a little late to the port. Do you mind if I speed up the horses a little?"

 

Truth is, he didn't care if he missed his ship's departure. If he missed it, it would take even longer to make it back to Korea. He didn't want to go home to a family who only thought of him as a money bag.

 

But being the polite person he was, he just shook his head.

 

The coachman raised his reins and whipped them down. The carriage lurched forward and Jongdae's eyes widened with bewilderment. This wasn't just speeding the horses up a little, they were basically sprinting now.

 

"Are you okay back there?!" the coachman yelled through the wind.

 

Jongdae yelled out an unconvincing _"yeah!!"_ before closing all windows, because with the speed, the rain was getting into the carriage and onto the seats. He clutched onto Pip’s cage even tighter, for fear that the bunny would be sent flying all over the place.

 

There were a few bumps in the road, but Jongdae managed not to get his head smashed on the ceiling of the carriage. The last time he's traveled from the port to the castle was two months ago, so he doesn't remember how much longer he has to endure for the rest of the ride.

 

All of a sudden, he heard his name being called out, but not from the front of the carriage — it sounded like it was from behind.

 

He listened for it again just to make sure he wasn't imagining it, especially since he heard it to be the voice of the person who he wanted to see the most at this moment.

 

_"KIM JONGDAE!!!"_

 

The voice sounded even closer this time, so Jongdae opened up the side window of his carriage and stuck his head out.

 

There, on a sprinting white horse behind the carriage, was the Crown Prince. He was really there, without any sort of protection, riding in the rain.

 

“Zhang Yixing, where is your helmet?!” Jongdae screeched.

 

“You’re really asking that when you’re the one who made me rush out of the palace to chase after you?!” Yixing shouted back in defense.

 

"Stop your horse!!! This is fucking dangerous, you moron!!"

 

"Stop your carriage first!!" the prince childishly yelled back.

 

"I'm going back to Korea, Yixing! My two months are up!"

 

Yixing shook his head because he knew Jongdae was a stubborn force to be reckoned with; he urged Baizhou to speed up even faster to surpass the younger's window and up to the coachman.

 

“Your Majesty! What on earth are you doing? This is dangerous!”

 

“Stop the carriage!” Yixing shouted out as an order.

 

“Sorry, I can’t do that! Sir Jongdae is late to his ship!”

 

“This is a royal decree that I’m making! Stop this carriage right now!”

 

“Only the emperor can make a royal decree!! Sir Jongdae needs to get on that ship!”

 

Yixing growled in frustration and flicked his reins so that Baizhou would speed up even faster. If none of them were going to willingly listen, he was going to make them.

 

The port was really nearby, so he had to stop them _soon_.

 

Yixing could feel his horse getting fatigued from all the running, but he waited until they were a good distance ahead of the carriage. When they were a couple of meters away, Yixing pulled back on the reins to halt Baizhou in her tracks.

 

The coachman panicked when he saw that the prince and his horse stopped, completely blocking the path. Even though they were charging forward with full speed, it didn’t seem like the prince was willing to move out of the way anytime soon. If he wanted everyone to remain unharmed, he was going to have to stop the carriage. He pulled back on the reins he was holding, effectively stopping the two horses that were pulling the carriage before they trampled over the Crown Prince and his horse.

 

When Yixing saw that the coachman wasn’t going to make anymore moves to go forward, he hopped down from Baizhou’s back. With the coachman's eyes following him, he briskly trudged through the wet ground all the way to the side of the carriage and wrenched the door open.

 

Jongdae shouldn't have been surprised, but he was startled by how much force Yixing used. Despite everything that he had to go through, the prince had a relatively calm expression on his face.

 

"Out."

 

Jongdae willingly obeyed, not really keen on upsetting the prince any further.

 

He put Pip’s cage on the seat and stepped down from the carriage; he waited for anything else Yixing wanted him to do.

 

Instead, the prince went around to the front of the carriage. "Jongdae will not be going back to Korea today. Turn this carriage around and go back to the castle. That's an order," Yixing authoritatively commanded the coachman.

 

"But—"

 

"Now."

 

The coachman made eye contact with the suitor and shrugged. He turned the carriage around and disappeared down the path where they all came from.

 

Finally, Yixing turned back to Jongdae.

 

The younger couldn't find words to say; he found this situation completely awkward, and he was scared of saying the wrong thing. "I... guess I'll just walk the rest of the way then? You can just send my stuff back another time, right?"

 

"Jongdae," the prince called out sternly. "Can't you see I'm doing everything in my power to _not_ let you leave? How can you continue to say that when you know exactly what I'm doing?"

 

"I think it's best if you stop," Jongdae told him, wiping the water from his face — he's not really sure if it's the rain or his tears anymore. "I don't have a place in your palace anymore."

 

"What the hell are you saying, Jongdae, of course you do," Yixing answered, getting increasingly frustrated. "I thought I made it clear that I wanted you to stay. I even completely forgot about that stupid two month limit, because I got so used to you being around me."

 

"But it's not just that," Jongdae desperately tried to get through to Yixing. "You don't—"

 

"You told me you wouldn't leave!!! I asked you to stay by my side!"

 

Jongdae was alarmed at Yixing losing his cool, because this was the second time that he's witnessed it, all in one week.

 

"I thought... you meant... for the speech..."

 

"No, I meant for longer than that," the prince told him seriously. "Jongdae, I can't imagine what would happen to me if you were to leave. Who would comfort me before I have to publicly speak? Even during the speech and my attack, I started picturing that I could do it, as long as you were by my side. And who would read with me in that library? I used to do everything alone before you came, and now you just want to disappear from my life?"

 

"I'm... sorry, this is just as hard for you as it is for me, if not harder," the suitor insisted. "But I just can't stay."

 

"Why? Why is that?" Yixing demanded to know. "You have to give me a reason and not just _run off like that_."

 

"I ran off because if I saw you, I knew I wouldn't be able to leave—"

 

"But why do you have to leave?!" Yixing burst out. "I don't understand!"

 

"I said already — I don't have a right to stay in your palace anymore. Yixing, I know you don't want to deal with any more marriage candidates, but do you understand how painful it will be for me to stay there and not be able to mean anything more to you than a cover up? My feelings for you have run deeper than I thought it ever would have and—"

 

Jongdae was too busy ranting to notice Yixing walking up to him. It was when Yixing grabbed his face and their lips met that he realized too late. Jongdae froze in place as the Crown Prince kissed him, but with the amount of passion he was putting into it, Jongdae couldn’t help but close his eyes and kiss back, too.

 

When Yixing finally pulled away, Jongdae could see it all up close; the small smile he was sporting and the genuine love and adoration in Yixing's eyes underneath the rain droplets that dripped from his bangs.

 

"Just a few days ago, I sincerely thanked my mother for setting me up with you. You know how I feel about arranged marriages and a blind dating system, but it was how I met you. And you're the best thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life."

 

At this, Jongdae grew completely flustered. He had no idea and he didn't know how to respond at all. Yixing continued.

 

"My mother didn't even set up for the next suitor, because she just knew I wanted us to stay together."

 

"You didn't tell me," Jongdae muttered.

 

"I was going to, but you decided to run away before I could," Yixing clapped back.

 

Jongdae decided to ignore him, because he knew he was right, but apologized instead. " I'm sorry. I know how much you hate being drenched in the rain. You're absolutely soaked."

 

"And whose fault is that?"

 

"Mine..."

 

"Yes, it's exactly your fault that I'm standing here in this pouring rain. Had it been someone else, I would not have done the same thing for them."

 

Jongdae's heart felt like soaring from Yixing's sweet words, so he hugged him. He hugged him in a way that reassured him that he didn’t want to let go.

 

"I'm not saying that I will do it again," the prince teased.

 

"I'm sorry," Jongdae laughed. "I'll never do it again."

 

“Okay, good. But I still can’t believe you left without telling anyone beforehand. How could you do that to me? Actually, how could you do that _to my mother_?”

 

Jongdae whipped his head around to face Yixing, his eyes furrowed in confusion. “Your mother? What do you mean? I told her,” he said. “She even said goodbye to me before I left.”

 

“What?” Yixing asked, more puzzled than ever. “You told her? When?”

 

“A couple of days ago.”

 

“What are you talking about? This morning, she was freaking out about—” Yixing abruptly stopped in his tracks when he realized exactly what was going on. He thought about how his mother was the person to alert him of Jongdae’s disappearance and how his horse was all prepared and ready to go and how she told him approximately when Jongdae had left…

 

“I… I got scammed.”

 

“Huh?” Jongdae asked, looking for an idea of what was going on through Yixing’s head.

 

“She tricked me,” he repeated in disbelief. “She knew _exactly_ how I felt for you when you told her you were leaving, but she still decided to tell me 30 minutes after you left _on purpose_.”

 

The truth finally registered on Jongdae’s face. “Oh my god, I can’t believe your mother played us like that.”

 

Yixing sighed. “Just wait and see the things she’ll do as your mother-in-law.”

 

“Wait,” Jongdae turned to him with wide eyes, “is that a marriage proposal?”

 

Yixing smiled. “It might be.”

  
  


**Extra Scene** : A Year Later

 

It had been an exhausting, but tiring day; Yixing and Jongdae were finally relaxing in their hotel room after traveling to their honeymoon straight from their wedding reception. Jongdae had already changed into more comfortable clothes and was reading a book on his side of their shared bed. Yixing was still taking a shower, after having insisted that Jongdae could wash up first.

 

When the prince came out of the shower, he was already dressed with a towel hanging around his neck. His hair was still a little wet, but it wasn’t soaked or dripping. Jongdae tried to ignore how good his husband looked and buried his face even further into the book he was reading.

 

Yixing noticed; he smiled as an idea popped into his head.

 

With a low hum, he climbed onto the bed and caught Jongdae off-guard.

 

“W-what are you doing?” The younger was forced to put his book on the side when his husband started straddling him. There was something sensual about the expression he was wearing and Jongdae didn’t know what to make of it, even when Yixing was all up in his face.

 

Jongdae could feel the heat creeping up his neck and the blush spreading across his cheeks. Yixing still had that seductive smirk on his face as he took one side of Jongdae’s face into his hand.

 

Yixing leaned in, so Jongdae closed his eyes, waiting for the kiss that never came.

 

Instead, Yixing leaned in even further, past his face and towards his ear and whispered,

 

_“We should… go to the steakhouse for dinner.”_

 

Jongdae’s eyes shot open and Yixing leaned away before his husband could push him off out of anger. His seductive smirk was gone and was now replaced with a cheeky and dimpled smile. Jongdae just sat there, frozen, before he realized what just happened to him.

 

“Oh, for the love of—” Jongdae started before grabbing the nearest pillow and throwing it at Yixing’s face.

 

Yixing only continued to laugh as Jongdae used one pillow to cover his arousal and grabbed another pillow to repeatedly smack him with.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note #1: sjfksdjfksdjf it’s finally done!!! If you decided to stick around up to here, thank you for reading!! This is probably the fastest fic I’ve ever written, thanks to my sprint pals!! 
> 
> Author’s Note #2: Yixing’s horse is named Baizhou — bai means white and zhou means to help, to assist; his name means White Helper — Yixing’s horse is white and helped Yixing get Jongdae back.


End file.
